The Desert Blooms
by Steelsheen
Summary: Were the Haradrim truly evil? Tasaali is a young widow of Harad, where widows are outcasts. When she tags along after the army in an attempt to escape her existence, her life will change...FINISHED
1. Prologue and Chapter 1

**Prologue  
  
** Many have been led to believe throughout the ages that the people of Harad were entirely evil, devoted to the Dark Lord, bloodthirsty and lovers of darkness and death. This was not so. They did not join with Sauron of their own will.  
  
A long while ago, when Sauron was just beginning to muster his troops for use in the War of the Ring, he attempted to recruit Harad's army. The King refused, being proud of his country and not wishing it to be manipulated by another.  
  
Around this time, a baby was born to Moroke and Eishali, peasants who lived behind the first wall of the capital city of Harad. There were six walls, and behind each lived progressively richer people, as the the first wall faced the desert and each wall behind it came closer to the more fertile, less harsh forest. The six walls and their denizens enclosed the Palace on all but one side. Moroke and Eishali were not rich people and did not live in the most comfortable part of the city, but they had become used to the harsh sand-bearing desert winds that whipped about behind the first wall.  
  
Moroke, all throughout Eishali's pregnancy, had wished for a boy child to make the daily chores easier. But nature does not bend to the wishes of mortals, and the baby was a girl. Eishali died in giving birth, and Moroke through his tears named the girl child Tasaali, as the couple had planned if the child were to be a girl after all, and raised her as any boy in the city was raised. Tasaali learned the art of the sword as well as how to keep her feelings to herself - to be strong, as a woman who (in her father's eyes) should have been a man ought to be. She was mocked incessantly by the neighborhood children when she practiced her swordswomanship skills on the street, but she never let it show that their words hurt in any way.   
  
Moroke never told Tasaali of the horrible burning that forced them from their first home, but it is important that you be informed of it. After their house was burned down, Moroke took the only one-year-old Tasaali and found an abandoned house behind the second wall to live in, but many were not so lucky. Sauron, angered by the King's refusal, had sent his orcs to burn, pillage and kill, and vowed he would do worse if the King did not change his mind. The burning, however, had only taken place behind the first wall (from then on, the first-wall area was known as the Burnt District), and being a lofty man of power the King refused to back down.   
  
Sauron kept his vow and over the next few years sent assassins to kill off each of the princes of Harad, until only one was left. The King would have no immediate heir if the last prince was killed off as well, and so he sent word to Sauron that his troops would fight for Mordor in the War of the Ring. The prince left over was forever after known as the Last Prince.  
  
At first, the men were skeptical and rebellious, wondering why they were being forced into a war they did not even believe in. But then the battles began. Men were killed, tempers were riled up, revenge was sought, and tales of the _tarks' _ great skill in battle inflated to campfire myths that they were evil sorcerers, capable of anything they wished. The men found a new fury in their hearts and a desire for battle, to get even with these sorcerers who had killed their friends and family. And so our story begins.   
**Chapter One - Inspiration and Decision**   
  
Tasaali tossed back her many long, black braids and wiped the sweat from her forehead. The relentless desert sun beat down on the city, and there was no wind to speak of. The city smelled of spices, sweat and animals, and if you looked far enough ahead, you would see waves in the air, as if you were underwater, the result of the scorching heat. Not that Saali noticed any of this - she went on dunking her dresses in the wash trough, her first chore of the day.   
  
As she bent over to stir a dress around in the lukewarm water, a short-cropped lock of hair fell into her eyes. She brushed it away with hatred. The short lock marked her as a widow, and in Harad, widows were outcasts. The Fatespeakers believed that if a woman's husband died of anything but old age, the woman was cursed by Fate. Men could not speak directly to a widow, or the curse would spread, and widows could not remarry. She hated the lock almost as much as she hated her status. But that was life. Saali's father, realizing that she would be viewed as completely dishonorable if he didn't, had arranged a marriage for his daughter. She had been happy - for about a week. Then both her husband and her father had been called off to the war, and, as soldiers are wont to do, they had never come back.   
  
Always seems to be hot, commented Tashkann sharply, when we do the washing. That was one thing that could be said for Saali's becoming a widow - it had gained her friends. Tashkann was a small woman with a big personality. Bitter, sarcastic and contrary, she had hardened herself to all aspects of a widow's life, and liked to pretend she needed no one. Saali knew better, but never said so. Tashkann's face was sharp and angular, with high cheekbones, thin eyebrows and squinty eyes; she wore her hair in one thick braid. She had dark chocolate skin, darker even than most of the Haradrim's, and always went barefoot.   
  
Niera nodded vigorously. Do you not just love the heat? Tashkann's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Saali stifled a chuckle. Your hair is coming unbraided, Niera added bluntly. Niera was short and heavy, with skin of very light brown, a round face and slightly tilted eyes that gave her a look of perpetual comical amusement. She did and said what she wanted, to put it frankly. A few months ago, just before Saali was widowed, she had chopped her hair off to chin-length because she thought it was more comfortable than the traditional braided style.   
  
Saali shook her head in amusement, then pulled her last plain brown dress out of the water. I am finished, she informed her friends. Tashkann and Niera gave nods of acknowledgment, and Saali turned to go back inside her little clay-walled house.  
  
Suddenly, the great gong of the palace tolled three times. Saali looked up, brow furrowed in puzzlement. What does that mean? she wondered aloud. She knew that one toll meant an hour had passed, and two tolls that the King or one of the twenty-nine Princesses were touring the city, and ten that a member of the royal family had died - that one had been used very often throughout her childhood. But three was new.   
  
Tashkann smirked. Something very important, I am certain, she said sarcastically, and turned back to the washing.   
  
It was not very long before two confused-looking men in soldiers' uniform ambled over to the three women. One of them approached Tashkann. My lady, is your husband near here?  
  
Tashkann smiled sweetly, eyes poisonous. She always tucked the widows' short lock into her braid, so it was invisible. She motioned for her friends with the visible locks to hide themselves. Saali turned halfway around, peering at the scene out of the corner of her eye.   
  
He is unavailable at the moment, sir, Tashkann chirped. Why does such a _handsome _soldier as you wish to know?  
  
The soldier blushed a bit and answered, We are refreshing the troops, my lady. We require every able-bodied man we can get to join the army. It is a new signal, the three tolls - the palace invented it just lately.  
  
Tashkann summoned all her acting skills and gasped, seemingly in horror, a mockery of some of the women of the city when their husbands were called away. Saali flinched. She had gasped like that, she was sure. But sir! Surely you are not requesting that I give up my husband?  
  
The man shifted uncomfortably, and the other soldier took over in impatience. We regret this deeply, lady, but we are. He didn't sound regretful.   
  
But, sir, I cannot give him up! Tashkann exclaimed. Then a wicked smile came over her face, and she pulled her widow's lock out from where it mingled with the rest of the thick black hair. Especially since he is dead. This is the Widows' District. Do you know nothing?  
  
The two gasped in shock, then looked at each other, then down at the ground. They acted as if there were no one there as they turned and walked away, not even shooting a backward glance at Tashkann.  
  
Saali had thought she was used to this, she really had. But the wound was still open, and this was the salt that made it sting. She whirled about in anger, storming into her little one-room house. _They would not talk - they would not even look - and they had been speaking to her quite normally - awful pigs - how dare they?_ She collapsed onto her little, lumpy hay-stuffed bed and stared at the dry clay ceiling. Life was just chores, day in and day out, just doing what needed to be done; nothing ever had any meaning; she was just doing what needed doing, just surviving. Just barely surviving.  
  
She longed for something meaningful to accomplish, something that would affect someone other than her. Something to show the world she meant something. But she had nothing. She twirled a braid around her finger as she brooded. Nothing.  
  
But suddenly, was replaced by . The fire of impulse coursed through her veins; she knew she was making one of those reckless decisions again, but she had to. She would lose her mind if she did not escape from her chore-prison.   
  
Rising from her bed, Saali crossed the dirt floor to where a faded black leather chest rested against a wall. She opened it with trembling fingers. It contained Moroke's spare army uniform. She pulled everything out restlessly until she reached the bottom, where a jeweled hilt protruded from a soft leather sheath. It was her pride and joy, her most valued possession - her sword. She had given up practice when she married, but now she had use of it again. She drew it, watching with pleasure the beautiful steel shining in the light; she hefted it, drinking in the slight curve of the blade with thirsty eyes. She smiled.  
  
Almost nervously, she began to swing the blade. Did she remember? The movements flowed from her brain to her arm automatically, and she went through the passes automatically. Yes, she remembered. She still had her skill.   
  
Laying the sword aside with care, she picked up the uniform. Slipping quickly out of her dull brown dress, she pulled on the black breeches, the red undershirt. They were both enormous, hanging baggy on her bony frame. _Oh well_. She pulled on the gold-embroidered red tunic, then the beautiful gold mail vest, her second most valuable possession. Next came the black arm guards and sword belt, then the glossy black leather boots. Surprisingly, the boots fit. Her father had small feet, and hers were big.   
  
Saali paused a minute to look in her large, cracked mirror. She had bought it cheap at Moki's Second-Hand (aka stolen) Goods. She wore the colors of Harad - black for the somber side of life, death and sadness, red for blood and life, and gold for the sacred, Fate and happiness. She was a tall, skinny young woman, with barely any feminine figure to speak of. Her glossy black hair was braided tightly, exposing a very high forehead. Her eyebrows were thick and sharp, like knives, her skin a medium brown, her nose long and thin, her lips likewise. She wore no expression at all, but her feelings were visible in her large, coal-black eyes. Right now, they were nervousness and determination.   
  
Here came the important part. Her father had been issued a scarf to tie around his head and protect from the desert winds, and it was crucial to her costume. Saali tied it on securely, then placed his golden helm on her head (that was a bit large, too), and all that was visible were her eyes. She hastily tucked her widow's lock into the helm. No one could ever suspect that she was a woman, let alone a widow. Lovingly she buckled her sword onto the belt, and she was ready.   
  
Bracing herself, she stepped out onto the street. The men had wanted soldiers. She had wanted a purpose. They were both going to get what they wanted.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. The Army

!--This file created by AppleWorks HTML Filter 6.0--  
HTML  
HEAD  
META NAME=GENERATOR CONTENT="AppleWorks HTML Filter 6.0"  
META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html;CHARSET=macintosh"  
TITLEmystory/TITLE  
/HEAD  
BODY   
  
PSorry about the lack of author's notes and the two chappies on the first chapter... this is my first fic and I'm a bit clueless when it comes to uploading ^_^;;; but I think i get it now, hehe...BR  
BR  
Anyway, a few things: is orkish for man of gondor, and I figured since, in my fic, the Haradrim hated the orcs, any word in their language would be as good as a curse. Therefore, it'll be used often throughout the story as a derogatory word. BR  
BR  
Assume whenever the characters speak, right now, that they're speaking the language of Harad, not the Common Tongue. When people do start speaking Common, I'll write something like she said in Common or he said in Haradic but for now, it's all Haradic.BR  
BR  
Harad is not meant to be based on any one culture in our world - it might include a few things from some cultures, but mostly it's my creation.BR  
BR  
Reviews can be as simple as i like the story, or you can do constructive criticism, but mainly I want to know that people are reading my story. (Please? With cheese on top?) BR  
BR  
And finally, if anyone knows about a Harad fic, point me to it, so I can make mine as original and spiffy (I love that word. ^_^) as possible.BR  
BR  
*Phew* That was a very very lot. Thankee much, all!BR  
BR  
Disclaimer: Middle-Earth is Tolkien's. *cringes* I'm a thief!BR  
BR  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BR  
BR  
Chapter Two: The ArmyBR  
BR  
Saali's eyes, the only uncovered part of her body, fell on her two friends. They are still at it, she thought sadly, watching them go through the rhythms of washing. BR  
BR  
Tashkann gasped as she looked up to see what looked like a soldier standing in Saali's doorway. Niera simply looked intrigued, then marched straight up to the disguised woman. Who are you, and what business have you to be in my friend's house? she asked bluntly. BR  
BR  
Saali laughed in relief. If her costume fooled Niera and Tashkann, it would fool the army. It is Saali, she told Niera.BR  
BR  
Niera scowled. she said very loudly. Widows stared at the two all around. BR  
BR  
I am not lying! Saali hissed. And be quiet; you shall give me away! When Niera still looked skeptical, she thought of something only she, Niera, and Tashkann knew. she said urgently, when Tash bought that illegal book of tark stories off Moki, and she refused to be quiet about King Ear-whatever for days?BR  
BR  
Niera's eyebrows raised dramatically. she inquired, and quite rightfully, are you doing in soldier's clothes?BR  
BR  
Tashkann had come up behind Niera. I see... she said softly. Saali, I know what you wish to do. Do you intend to become a mindless killing machine, like the rest of them?BR  
BR  
Saali's cheeks burned. I am NOT mindless, she protested. The tarks killed my father and my husband. I am taking revenge. And to stay here and be a mindless chore machine would be worse, would it not?BR  
BR  
Tash raised a thin eyebrow. Of course, she said sarcastically, and Saali blushed even further as she realized both her friends were chore machines. But Tash just sighed, looking skeptical. If you want our help, I know where the army meets when it needs more human expendables.BR  
BR  
Saali was used to Tashkann's morbid talk. Take me, she commanded. BR  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BR  
BR  
A few minutes later, the three widows stood in the Burnt District, watching from behind a shell of a house as man dressed in army colors marched in to join the standing mass of red, gold and black. A fierce-looking man, probably the captain, stood at the head of the troop, and a man as gentle-looking as the captain looked fierce held the neck chains of three mumaks. The captain appeared to be counting each man as he appeared. BR  
BR  
Well, this is it, Tashkann informed Saali in a whisper. Saali did not reply, gazing out at the scene before them. You know, women do not join the army, her friend continued. I do not know what the penalty would be...BR  
BR  
Do not go, begged Niera. Strength in numbers, you know, we shall be better off with three than two...BR  
BR  
Saali sighed. I am going. And that is my final decision.BR  
BR  
Goodbye, Saali-girl! Niera near-sobbed, and threw her arms about Saali in a crushing embrace.BR  
BR  
Tash looked stiff. Come back alive, was her final advice.BR  
BR  
Saali took a deep breath. She was a man, she told herself. She was a soldier, she could fight, and she belonged here. With those ideas in mind, she stepped out into the blazing sunlight, squinting, and sauntered over to join the troop as if she belonged there, laying a hand on her sword-hilt for reassurance.BR  
BR  
The fierce captain met her eyes squarely, and for a moment she had a gut-rending feeling that he knew her for what she was. But what he said, in a rough voice accustomed to being projected for the troops' benefit, was That is ninety-nine. We need one more! Overwhelmed with relief, she slipped in to join the ranks as inconspicuously as possible. BR  
BR  
A tall man walked through the gate into the Burnt District, accompanied by a pretty but tired-looking woman and a toddler. The boy-child was clinging to the man's leg and shrieking, the woman attempting to comfort the child. She finally succeeded in prying him off his father's leg, swept him into her arms, and stood on her tiptoes to whisper something in the man's ear. Saali's sharp eyes caught a tear glinting in the sun as the woman turned her head; she could tell the entire of what looked to be a family was distraught.BR  
BR  
The man said something in soothing tones to his wife, squeezed her hand briefly, and walked over to the troops. A determinedly blank expression dominated his face. Saali knew that expression - it was the one proud men made when they were crying inside. They are a family no more, she thought, and her heart ached.BR  
BR  
That is one hundred! the captain announced, his rough voice making her own throat feel scratchy. Move out! And Saali was caught up in the rush of marching men, carrying her out into the desert, further and further from her friends, her home, and her life. BR  
BR  
No turning back now, she thought. BR  
BR  
BR  
BR  
BR  
BR  
BR  
BR  
/P  
/BODY  
/HTML  
  



	3. In Which First Impressions Are Deceivi

Woohoo! I have reviews! *Does review dance* Well, actually, I have...a few...reviews. Heh. *looks appealing* So help me improve that count, people, and review! And if you already did, well... keep reviewing, cuz I have a feeling this story isn't going to attract that many readers. ^.^;; Thank you also for assuring me Saali is not a Mary Sue, hehehe...  
  
And Melime, I just realized that it IS kind of like Eowyn's story now, but it'll stop being so Eowyn-ish a bit in this chapter and a LOT in the next.   
  
Anyway, I think I fixed the last chappie, it was yet another computer error (I DO know how to write in paragraphs! I swear!!!) I hate my comp. I have to type it all up a certain way, or it comes out all screwed up, as demonstrated by the last chapter. *Kills computer violently and gorily*   
  
Wait! DUDE! NOW THAT LAST CHAPPIE'S EVEN MORE SCREWED THAN BEFORE! *dies* X.X   
  
ANYWAY  
  
I hope this one works, and i hope you can all read around the crap on that last one... :/  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
**Chapter Three: In Which First Impressions Are Deceiving  
  
** "Hoy there! What do you all think you are doing?" The rough voice of the captain, when shouting, was even more painful to hear than when he spoke normally.  
  
Saali glanced up innocently from where she had stopped walking.   
  
"You are in the army! We MARCH!" the captain ordered.  
  
There was a chorus of "yessir" 's from the men. Saali kept her scarf-covered mouth firmly closed.   
  
"Right then! Right! Left! Right! Left!" The soldiers marched, perfectly in step, from the Burnt District. The impostor soldier flinched as the hot desert wind hit her face, and was grateful for the scarf that protected both her identity and her face from the sand.   
  
That thought lasted only a moment, however, because she put her foot down wrong in the slippery sand, and ended up face down in the sand.  
  
The soldier beside her gave a hearty laugh. "You all right?" he inquired, and offered her a hand. He was tall, with a blacksmith's muscular build and long hair worn in the same braids as Saali's.  
  
Saali nodded furiously, but before she could accept his hand, the captain was standing menacingly beside her. "Soldier."  
  
Saali nodded again, realizing that was what she would have to do a lot if she intended not to speak at all.  
  
"You do not _nod _when your commanding officer addresses you!" he rasped. "You say 'Yessir!'"   
  
"Yessir!" Saali yelped, just barely managing to make her voice lower than usual. The man who had offered his hand stood by in irritation, tapping a foot.  
  
Then the captain did something that surprised her. "All right, we have left the city, you do not have to march now," he called to the rest of the soldiers. "Now then. Soldier, do you intend to be of any use fighting?"  
  
"Yessir!"  
  
"Do you intend to protect your country and your pride?"  
  
"Yessir!"  
  
"Then DO NOT BE CLUMSY! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!" The captain spat in her face as he leaned forward to shriek this at her.   
  
"Yessir!" Her voice raised to its normal octave on that "yessir".   
  
"Leave him alone, sir, for Fate's sake, sir," the soldier beside her said loudly, grinning. "He's new, sir, sir, yessir, he is, sir."  
  
Sir turned sharply to face the soldier. "I do not appreciate cheek! I have my eye on you, Private Kentai, one false move and I could -"  
  
"Yessir, I know, sir," said the man whose name seemed to be Kentai, grinning even more broadly.  
  
Quite surprisingly to Saali, the captain stalked off to lead the troops again, muttering about incompetent, fresh-mouthed soldiers.   
  
"You all right?" Kentai grinned, grabbing Saali's arm and pulling her up from where she still lay in the sand with surprising strength.   
  
Saali hastily yanked her arm away. _I hope the Fate-curse thing is false, or now he shall die within the day, for touching me_, she thought ruefully. She nodded yet again in response to his question.  
  
"Come on now, I know you can talk. You just said 'yessir' about ten times," the tall man said laughingly as they began to walk again. They were now at the very back of the troop, but that didn't stop the men from staring at them, and Saali squirmed under their eyes.  
  
The young widow wanted to clear her throat, but resisted. "Yes, I can talk," she said, the frog in her throat making her sound more like a man.   
  
"Good!" Kentai exclaimed agreeably. "Do not worry your head about Sir. He is just a bit grouchy in the morning, is all," he added lightly.   
  
"Does...Sir... have a name?" Saali wanted to know.  
  
"No, not really," Kentai answered bluntly. "I suppose he does, but we do not know it, and it makes things all the easier when he is commanding."  
  
Saali didn't see how not knowing his name could make things easier, but she refrained from saying so. "And... and why did he not kill you on the spot just now?" It was taking all her willpower not to clear her throat.  
  
"Well, we need all the men we can get, nowadays," Kentai sighed. "He is not going to kill a soldier for no good reason. And," he added, dark eyes twinkling, "I think he likes my sass. Keeps all the power from going to his head."  
  
Saali giggled, then gulped and realized giggling wasn't very manly. Kentai gave her a strange look, but that was all. That was good, because she had decided she liked this man.   
  
"Anyhow, what do you call yourself, newbie?" Kentai asked jovially. Saali was beginning to wonder if the grin ever left his face.  
  
"Moroke," she said quickly, as she had planned. Taking her father's name could not be very bad luck, although taking anyone's name would supposedly affect Fate for the worse.   
  
"Pleased. Kentai, but you can call me Tai," he said, and gave as much of a traditional bow as he could while trudging through the sand. "And I hope you come to a better end than the man you are replacing."  
  
They fell silent right about then, for it had reached the hottest hour of the day. Sweat rolled down Saali's forehead and nose and gathered on the rim of the scarf; her underclothes quickly became soaked. She could not blot the sweat off, because her arms and body were covered with sand. She stumbled many a time. In fact, the entire troop of soldiers was a stumbling, sweaty red-black-and-gold mass.   
  
"I think," Kentai commented, "this is as... close to the Punishment Realms... as it gets... in Middle Earth." He took breaks to pant between words.   
  
Sometime in the afternoon, a man came around and handed out canteens. "Use them wisely," he advised the men as he passed the heavy water bottles around, "for this is all you get for the voyage."  
  
Saali and Tai groaned in unison.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The evening was much cooler - cool enough to make Saali wish her undergarments were not so sweat-soaked. The men stopped in their tracks and began to set up camp for the night. The same man handed out tents. "Don't rip 'em," he advised in an uplifting sort of way, "for-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, they are all we get for the voyage," Tai grinned. Although, somehow, this was a more bitter grin. Saali was discovering he had different grins for different occasions.   
  
"Wait - he did not give me a tent," Saali protested as the errand man moved on.  
  
"Of course not. We are tenties," Kentai said, as if it were obvious.  
  
"Tenties?"  
  
"We share a tent, of course," he explained as if she were stupid.   
  
"But -" Saali shuddered and gulped. Sharing a room - or, most likely, a tent - with a man when you were was supposed to be certain condemnation for him by Fate. But she could not let him know who she was. She would just have to sleep in many layers of clothing. "All right," she squeaked.   
  
"Do not snore, Moroke," Tai said cheerfully, and they pitched the tent.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
When they were finished, Tai collected both their dinners, consisting of overly spiced dried beef and flat bread, from the supply tent. All over, men sat down outside their tents to eat.  
  
The man she had seen earlier holding the mumaks, short and lean but taut-muscled with a gentle face, came over and sat wordlessly on the sand beside Tai.  
  
"Oh. Hello there. Moroke, this is Emreni. Reni, Moroke," Tai introduced him. Reni nodded in acknowledgment, but still did not speak.  
  
"Er - hello," Saali said awkwardly. "How... do you do?"  
  
"He is not going to answer you," Kentai announced. "He is mute."  
  
Reni looked very miffed. Pulling out a pen and a piece of paper, he scribbled with the ease of practice:  
  
NOT MUTE. VOW OF SILENCE.  
  
"Why?" Saali wanted to know.  
  
WAR IS STUPID. VOW OF SILENCE  
UNTIL WAR ENDS.   
  
"But you are a soldier," Saali pointed out.  
  
NOT SOLDIER. MUMAK-MAN. DO NOT  
KILL ANYONE. WANT PEACE FOR MUMAKS.  
  
He wrote so quickly, his fingers were a blur. "Oh," Saali said lamely. They finished their tasteless (except for the spice) dinner in, quite appropriately, silence.   
  
Later, "Moroke" and Kentai returned to their tent to sleep. "I - I am just going to change clothes. Could you... wait outside?"  
  
"Why?" Tai looked genuinely amused and befuddled at the same time.  
  
"Just do it," she commanded.  
  
"Well, all right," Kentai agreed, but Saali should have known that look in his amused dark eyes meant trouble.   
  
Once inside, Saali furiously threw off her shirt and pulled on a clean one. "Hurry up!" Tai's deep voice boomed from outside the tent. "The bugs are biting!"  
  
"Hurrying!" she squeaked and changed her breeches. Her clothes were so disgusting; she had to change before she slept...   
  
"I am coming in!" Tai announced.  
  
"NO! DO NOT COME IN!" Saali threw herself against the tent flaps. She had her helm off and only her breeches and undershirt on, leaving her widow's lock and what feminine form she had for all to see.  
  
"I am!" Tai shouted, and crashed into her. She went flying onto her sleeping mat, and Tai dashed in, laughing.  
  
And stopped in his tracks, and stared.   
  
**  
**  
  



	4. True Identity

Dude! I actually reviewed your story, Melime, and I didn't even realize it! Only my computer is screwed up (as you all probably know) so it only showed half my comment, heh... We who write fics on weird (ahem, excuse me, ORIGINAL) topics hafta stick together! ^_^ Oh, and also, here is where it stops being Eowyn-ish.   
  
Thankee Queen Isis, I now have FOUR reviewers instead of three! (By the way my friend loves that song you said was your favorite in your bio.... let the bodies hit the floor... I personally think the lyrics are extremely morbid. Not that that's bad or anything.) And we wouldn't want all mumaks to die, then Reni would have no place in the story! So I've updated! ^_^  
  
Red Mage, your mary sue and gary stu story rawwwwks ^_^ I like your spoofery  
  
Disclaimer: My name is not Tolkien, unfortunately, since I always thought it was a cool name. It's an authorish name. But anyway, since my name is not Tolkien, I don't own anything, unfortunately again, since LOTR is so cool. But even though my name is not Tolkien, unfortunately, I own Saali. Ye savvy?  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
  
**Chapter Four: True Identity  
  
** Saali wanted to crawl under the sand and stay there for the rest of her life. She shrank against the back wall of the tent and squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe if she didn't think about it, it would just go away... _stop staring at me_, she thought fiercely... her plan had lasted all of a day; she was so disappointed .... what would she do...  
  
Kentai stood there for what seemed like an eternity, dark eyes darting from her widow's lock to her face, and eventually to her chest, which was why it was a good thing that she had her eyes closed, or she might have attacked him. His eyebrows appeared permanently raised.  
  
Saali opened one eye. "Please," she said hoarsely. "I mean no harm..."  
  
When all of a sudden, Tai did the most unexpected thing he could have done under the circumstances.  
  
He laughed.  
  
He laughed until he doubled over; he laughed until tears ran down his cheeks, he laughed until he was completely out of breath and lay on his bedroll, gasping for breath and letting out short bursts of laughter in between gasps.  
  
Saali stared.  
  
Finally, the man gained enough air to speak. "And to think..." Ha, ha, ha. "And to think... you had me fooled... all along..."  
  
Saali stared at him. Finally, she decided the most appropriate facial expression was a scowl. "I do not think it is so funny," she snapped.  
  
"Oh..." Tai wiped tears from his cheeks. "Oh, but it is. You fooled everyone completely... even Sir..." He began to laugh again, but it had acquired a sort of wheezelike quality from his breathlessness.  
  
Since it appeared he was not going to ask the most obvious question, Saali decided to answer it anyway. "I - I wanted revenge," she explained awkwardly, "for the death of my father and husband."  
  
"Do we... do we all not," Tai responded in a pointless sort of way, and finally got enough control over himself to stop laughing.   
  
Saali wondered if he had gone mad. "I am a widow," she pointed out, "and you are speaking to me."  
  
"Well, I touched you earlier," Tai announced merrily, "so according to tradition, that gives me until exactly tomorrow at the same time to live."  
  
"And you... don't... care." Saali looked quite blankly at her tentie.   
  
"No, not particularly," Kentai shrugged. "I am only religious when I want to curse things. Fate curse it!" he said in order to demonstrate.   
  
Suddenly, relief swept over Saali, and she slumped against the tent wall with a huge sigh. He was not going to do anything to her. He didn't care. "You must swear to me you will keep this a secret," she said, looking gravely into his cheery eyes. "SWEAR it. Now."  
  
He held up his hand and passed it over his heart. "On my honor," he promised. "Then again, I do not have much honor, so I may not be the best person..."  
  
"KENTAI!" she hissed. "You CANNOT TELL ANYONE! I do not even want to KNOW what Sir, and anyone else, would DO to me..."  
  
For just a fleeting moment, the merriment left his eyes. "All right. I promise." It returned just as quickly, however. "So. What is your name when you decide to be a woman?"  
  
"Tasaali," she said, staring at her feet. "Moroke was my father. You may call me Saali, if you still wish to associate with me." Shame had replaced shock.   
  
"Of course I do. Who is more interesting to associate with than a woman pretending to be a man?" Kentai grinned maniacally. "Wait until Reni hears this. He will give you a really strange look, I guarantee it. He is good at that look. Actually, he excels at looks in general, for he communicates mostly -"  
  
"I cannot believe you." Amusement had replaced shame. "Here you are, in a tent with a widow -"  
  
"It adds a certain element of danger," Tai said overdramatically.  
  
"-And all you can talk about is how Reni is good at giving looks."  
  
"He is." Tai, Saali noticed, did not seem to have lost interest in looking her over.  
  
"Stop it," she snapped irritably.   
  
"What?" Tai asked innocently, his eyes wandering.  
  
"Stop LOOKING at me!" she screeched a bit louder than intended, her hand darting to her jeweled sword hilt. She could not, personally, see why he was, as there was not much to look at.   
  
Tai blushed dramatically. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I could not help myself," he added in a much more Kentai-like tone.  
  
Saali snorted. "Well, you are going to have to, or people will get suspicious," she informed him, releasing the hilt. Then, she thought of something. "So," she said rather awkwardly. "We are sharing a tent."  
  
"Yes, we are," Kentai agreed happily.  
  
"So... how... are we going to do this?"  
  
"Well, first, you lay down, then you close your eyes," said the ever-clueless Tai.  
  
"I mean," Saali sighed, "it is not exactly... suitable, for me to sleep with - next to you," she corrected herself hastily and blushed, "now that you know my identity."  
  
"Oh," said Kentai, the light obviously dawning. "I will not try anything, I promise."  
  
"I KNOW," Saali said in aggravation. "It is still not..."  
  
Kentai had already crawled into his bedroll. "They will not give you another tent. We are stuck, unfortunately," he murmured into his mattress.   
  
Saali bit a thin lip. "You - you promise not to... you know..."  
  
"SwearbyFate," Kentai slurred before falling fast asleep, leaving Saali to blow out the candle.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning, the two encountered a bit of a difficulty. "How," Saali asked Kentai as she rubbed sleep from her eyes, "do we intend to dress?"   
  
"Go right ahead," Tai offered mischievously.  
  
"Get out," she snarled, shoving him outside to meet the burning sun and, she suspected, the stares of his fellow soldiers.   
  
When they were both properly clothed and had both taken their turn at being stared at, Kentai insisted on telling Emreni about Saali. She protested, but he came back with the fact that Reni certainly wasn't about to tell anyone, a fact the truth of which which Saali found irrefutable. So, to the Mumak-man they went.  
  
Reni, as promised, gave her a very strange look. On a piece of paper, he scrawled, WHY?  
  
"Because I wanted revenge for family deaths and my widowing. Can you not guess?" Saali half-shouted, louder than she had intended. She clapped a bony hand over her mouth.  
  
Reni shrugged and returned to feeding his mumaks. It was funny, Saali thought, how he was shorter than her, yet the mumaks listened to him as if he were their size. Apparently, he was not superstitious either, or he did not care for death, or for Fate. It seemed to the young widow that one who would disagree with a war would also disagree with a tradition The mumak-man simply peered at her with wide-set, deep black eyes, an expression that said as clearly as words: You puzzle me, and I admire that.  
  
"Thank you for understanding," she murmured, and slipped away silent as the dew that did not come in the desert.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Kentai lived past the same time that day that he had touched her the day before.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The men marched on for day after day after sweaty, stifling day, and Saali found herself out of water. She did not ask Kentai for some of his, as she was still slightly shamed from the revealing of her identity, and besides, she did not want him to run out as well. She stopped talking as much - she suspected Reni approved - because it dried out her throat, and often lay and coughed at night after Tai had been reassured she was fine.   
  
This was how she found herself being awoken by a sharp slap on the face. She lay sprawled clumsily over both her and Kentai's bedroll. Slowly, Tai's face pieced itself together through the black dots that swam in her vision. "What...?" She began to cough violently, each hacking breath tearing at her dry throat. She wanted to cry, but her eyes remained painfully dry.  
  
Tai bent down and slapped her on the back several times, until the fit ceased. "You fainted," he informed her, the grin gone altogether from his face.   
  
"Oh," she rasped, sounding quite as awful as Sir.  
  
"Do you want a healer?" Kentai sounded genuinely concerned.  
  
"No!" she exclaimed fiercely, though it felt like the word would rip out her very throat. She staggered drunkenly to her feet, flinching with the effort, and tripped out into the sunlight.  
  
That was when the black dots came together to block out everything else, and she did not feel herself collapse.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The flaps of Sir's tent exploded open, and in leaped Private Kentai. "Yes?" the captain rasped, quite unfazed by the soldier's dramatic entrance.   
  
"I need water and a healer. NOW," Kentai commanded.  
  
"We do not have either to spare," Sir drawled. How many times the soldiers had pulled this very act, just to get more precious water for themselves, he did not even know. "The bandages are kept in the -"  
  
"I do not NEED a bandage!" Kentai roared.  
  
"Do not shout at me, Private," Sir said dangerously. "I have no use for one of your childish pranks. Now, if you will stop wasting my time..."  
  
Kentai let out what sounded quite authentically like an animal roar. "It is NOT a prank! Listen, you, I have a dying woman on my hands -"  
  
Sir began to shake his head knowingly, then stopped to really look at the soldier, eyes wide. "Did you say 'woman'?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	5. And Back Again

And then Steelsheen died from lack of computer access over vacation. X.X  
  
I will end your torture now. Muahahaha. I love my cliffies.  
  
Thankee muchly Speechless, Miw-Sher, Melime, DiamondTook, Red Mage and Queen Isis, me buckos! Y'all reign! Keep on reviewin'! Savvy...  
  
Queen Isis, I think I already have... ^_^ and yes, cliffies rawk my world   
  
Speechless, thank you and yes he can, he just did, and your one-chapter thingie with the girl who likes Faramir ROCKS and it's really sad and I reviewed it and this is a run-on sentence  
  
DiamondTook, Sam's thing was kind of where i got my idea from, and I love Pippin too :D  
  
This one, unfortunately, will be slightly less of a cliffie *pouts* *ignores all the relieved looks*  
  
Disclaimer: We don't owns it, preciousss, the world, no we don'ts, Misster Tolkien does, but we wants it!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Chapter 5: And Back Again  
  
**Saali moaned. Her head felt like it had recently been used in place of one of the great festival drums. She could see nothing clearly, colors swirled where they oughtn't to be. Her face and hair were soaked, with sweat or water, she didn't know which.  
  
A hand dabbed at her cheek with a wet cloth. A few drops of water hit her paper-dry tongue; she gulped them greedily. Suddenly, she lashed out a hand and seized the canteen from the hand that held it and dumped its contents down her throat, swallowing desperately and not minding that the water spilled out over the sides of her mouth.  
  
When she finished, she lay gasping for breath for a long, long time. She heard voices, though she didn't understand what they said. She frowned as the swirling colors began to come together into their proper places.  
  
Finally, the vision came into focus. Kentai and Sir - she must be imagining Sir. "Tai?" she choked weakly.  
  
"Saali!" Tai exlaimed breathlessly. "You - you are alive!"  
  
"Am I really?" she wondered aloud.  
  
"Saali. So that is her name," the hallucination of Sir rasped. Why was her hallucination calling her "her"? "She is a widow, then?" it added.  
  
"Yes," Kentai admitted awkwardly. "Saali - Saali, I am sorry, I lost my head -"  
  
Why was Tai RESPONDING to her hallucination? "What - what is going on?" she moaned. Then realization dawned as her head cleared further, the images sharpened, and she came to her senses with the jolt of a slap in the face. Her eyes became huge. "Sir," she breathed.   
  
She was not wearing her helmet. She grabbed it where it lay and clutched it to her. A few involuntary curses slipped from her lips. "I - I - KENTAI, YOU TOLD, YOU LYING -"  
  
"I am sorry! You were dying, Saali; you did not have anything to drink for too long!"  
  
"It happens often, in an army as undersupplied as this," Sir murmured as he rubbed his temples. He looked - confused? Tired? Not angry. It was strange.  
  
Saali got control of herself. Sir looked sharply up at her, and she cringed. "Please. Please, have mercy, I did not hurt anyone. I only wished," she squeaked, "I only wished..." She trailed off under Sir's scrutinous gaze.   
  
They sat there in silence for what must have been at least ten years, by Saali's capable calculations. Finally, Sir spoke.  
  
"Your name is Saali, then."  
  
"Tasaali, daughter of Eishali, sir." The one so named stared at her booted feet. At least he was speaking to her.  
  
"I see." Sir's brows furrowed. "You are a widow."  
  
"My husband was killed in -"  
  
"I do not care," he snapped. "I care that according to Fate's law you have cursed every man here. What have you to say for yourself?" he asked, a bit more quietly.  
  
"Sir, if I may, sir," Tai interrupted, then barged on without waiting for a response. "I have shared a tent with her for at least a week or so now, and I am quite alive, as you can most likely see, sir."  
  
"That would have been more effective," Sir scolded, "without the sass mixed in."  
  
"Yessir," Tai said sarcastically. "But, sir, do you see what I am trying to say, sir?"  
  
Sir answered by not answering. Saali shot Tai a grateful look.   
  
At long last, he broke the silence again (Kentai had been trying to break it for a while with clearings of the throat and fake sneezes). "I am not quite sure what to do in this situation, as it has never happened before. I do not believe there are rules regarding anything of the sort." Saali could tell he was not the type used to not knowing what to do. "But you certainly cannot continue to share a tent with this man. It is shameful."  
  
Tai and Saali blushed in unison. Sir cleared his throat and drew himself up, attempting to regain his look of authority. "We turn back, and go to the Palace, and consult the King," he announced. "We may perhaps discuss the making of a law for use in such situations, and he will determine your penalty. It is the only way."  
  
Saali gave a pathetic little squeak. So much for mercy.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Thud, thud, thud went the feet of the mumak beneath her. She wished fervently that she at least had a window to look out, for the rocking of the huge beast's back was nearly making her sick.  
  
Sir had decided to place her in this small storage room beneath the war-tower on the mumak's back for the return voyage to the city. She supposed he thought she could not curse anyone even further from up here. Her bedroll was squeezed in amongst extra swords, bows, quivers, and spears, empty canteens, tents, and uniforms. She was constantly afraid that one of the spears would tip over onto her head.   
  
Suddenly, the rocking stopped, and Saali lurched forward, slamming into a box of mail-coats. "Ouch," she said plaintively. This was surely the most miserable place to be spending her last few days. For she was more than certain of her penalty.  
  
Someone knocked on the door. "Go away!" Saali snapped without getting up from her awkward position on the floor.   
  
With that, the door slammed open, and Kentai and Emreni pulled themselves up and collapsed onto the floor. "We were NOT about to keep hanging on that flimsy piece-of-dung rope ladder," Tai shrugged in response to Saali's dirty look. Reni sighed loudly and shook his head, suggesting that he had perhaps made the ladder.   
  
Saali rearranged herself into an upright position. "So..."  
  
"We really stepped in it this time," Tai announced cheerfully.  
  
"WE?" Saali snarled.  
  
Kentai ignored her. "You should see it down there, Saali. It is absolute madness. The men have not the faintest why we are turning back - there are rumors all over the place. Lots of people are saying the war is over and we can all go home."  
  
WISHFUL THINKING was written hugely on Reni's trusty pad of paper.   
  
"So - Sir did not tell them?" At least there wouldn't be stones thrown at her "bedroom" at night.  
  
"Well, apparently not," Tai grinned. "And I for one shall let them talk. It is quite amusing, really."  
  
"Go on and laugh," Saali muttered bitterly. "You are not going to your death."  
  
"...Neither are you." Tai looked truly confused.  
  
"He is letting the KING decide my penalty! Do you think the King cares for my life? It is the same, most likely, as the penalty for widows found involved in a romance!"  
  
"Well," Tai pointed out, "you are not involved in a romance."  
  
"I suppose," Saali mumbled. She rather regretted that fact. Tai was rather handsome. She could have slapped herself for thinking that. Perhaps, when one was about to be killed, one usually went insane. Or perhaps not. Perhaps she was one of the unusual cases.  
  
Reni covered his mouth to hide his laughter, which didn't quite work, as his shoulders were shaking. Saali glared.   
  
"Well, anyhow, we brought you food," Tai told her, and he and Reni produced bags of flat bread and overspiced meat.  
  
"Thank you," she mumbled, and bit into a piece of meat that did not taste like meat. Then, suddenly, she thought of something. "Reni. You... you are up here... the mumaks... who is handling them?" she said slowly.  
  
Reni shrugged, as if to say, 'What? They are tired. They are not going anywhere.'  
  
He was wrong.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
An unsuspecting soldier, tired and confused after a long day's backward marching, began to pitch his tent a bit too close to the mumaks. Before he did so, he threw his spear aside, with a long sweeping motion identical to the "charge" signal Reni used with his mumaks.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"Well, I for one am going to sleep. Try not to think about impending doom, all right, Saali?"  
  
Saali's snippy reply was cut off violently, as the entire room jolted backwards, until the floor was completely vertical. With a shriek, she thudded onto the back wall, followed by Reni. They crossed their arms over their faces helplessly as canteens and boxes of supplies hit them. Kentai had grabbed the door frame, and was now dangling by his fingertips, cursing. The pile of spears leaning on the front wall began to tip over with a groan. Saali screamed.  
  
As suddenly as the room had tipped, it returned to its normal position. Saali and Reni were thrown to the floor, Kentai swung off the door frame and slammed into the wall. Roaring curses, he threw himself against the teetering spears as the room began to jerk and roll and jolt up and down, as if an earthquake had hit. The spearheads glinted dangerously.   
  
"HOLD ON, TAI!" Somehow, Saali jumped to her feet. She cringed as a canteen smacked the back of her head. Reni caught a flying arrow that had escaped from its quiver, then swatted aside a bag of tent stakes.  
  
"I - oh, help - LOOK OUT!" Two spears had slipped from Kentai's fingertips. Saali drew her sword and slashed at them, managing to cut one in half. The half with the head attached nearly impaled Reni, but he threw himself aside just in time, and it impaled a tent instead. The other spear hit the wall and stuck there. Saali was knocked to her knees by a heavy box of something, nearly putting her eyes out with her own sword. Cursing, she jumped up again, noticing that Reni was biting his lip so hard to keep from speaking that it bled.  
  
Kentai, in the meantime, was straining every muscle he had to keep the spears from falling. He tried to ignore the rain of objects that pelted his back. "Reni, I swear, I will PERSONALLY SLAUGHTER you when - ouch!"  
  
Saali was suddenly jolted from her balance and hit the door, which swung open. She let out a horrible shriek and clung to the frame, barely keeping a grip on the floor with her booted toes. She was slipping - she looked down and saw the sand zooming past, far beneath her, the mumak's powerful legs pumping...  
  
Suddenly, the legs dug forcefully into the sand, and the room STOPPED. Saali gave a bloodcurdling screech as she swung around to hit the outside wall of the war-tower, clinging to one side of the door frame with one hand and to the floor inside with one set of toes. Just as she lost her grip completely, Tai stuck an arm out, grabbed her round the waist, and pulled her back inside, before collapsing dizzily on top of Emreni, who lay sprawled out with his back against the front wall.  
  
They lay there, panting, for a long, long time. Unaware of human feelings, the precarious pile of spears teetered one last time, then toppled over, blades piercing the floor with a series of chopping sounds. One landed not two inches from Saali's nose.   
  
Awakened from her condition of shock, she jumped away from the two men, slapping Kentai's arm off her. She looked around. The room was total chaos, everything strewn randomly over the floor. It would take work, she realized, to unearth her bedroll.  
  
"RENI. YOU INCOMPETENT -"  
  
"What stopped him?" Saali interrupted Kentai before he killed the mumak-man.  
  
"Well, why do you not look out and see?" Kentai growled, glaring furiously at Reni, who avoided his eyes, completely ashamed. He touched his bleeding lip, only just now realizing its condition.   
  
Saali stuck her head out of the door, gulping down the nauseous lump in her throat and ignoring her shaking knees. Her eyes widened as she took in the scene around the mumak.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Well, I did say SLIGHTLY less of a cliffie. :D  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	6. And Back Again Cont

Wow. Queen Isis, that was a LONG description of a Mary Sue, and it confirmed my suspicion that a Mary Sue could be MANY different things. ^_^ But thank you oh so muchly - Saali is not half unicorn, unless she's hiding something from the world, so I think we're safe. *grin*  
  
Yays! I have another reviewer! Thanks, Soledad, and all the usual suspects...  
  
Since so many people like Reni, I'll try to work him into the story often, but see, he doesn't... talk... so it's kinda hard... lmao  
  
Disclaimer: I am Tolkien, reincarnated. Therefore, I need no disclaimer. Just kidding, but no, really, I didn't mean to offend anyone by being a storyline thief. Really!  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Chapter 5: And Back Again, Continued  
  
**What must have been every soldier in the entire troop surrounded the mumak, spears raised. And what must have been every soldier in the entire troop was staring directly at the young widow in soldier's garb at the little doorway in the war-tower.   
  
Saali froze like a deer caught in the headlights, although she didn't think of it that way, since in Harad there were no deer or headlights. She actually wasn't thinking much of anything. She would have thought the third time being caught would shock her less than the first or second, but it did not.  
  
A stumbling noise mixed in with a swearing one alerted her, in the functional corner of her mind, that Kentai was coming up behind her. She saw him grin at her out of the corner of her eye, and wondered how on earth someone could cheerfully swear. "I shall feel that tomorrow morn - oh..." he broke off, then added a few words that were stereotypically suited to the soldier that he was. Reni crept up beside them and clamped his jaw shut, hard, raising his eyebrows.  
  
The three just knelt in the doorway and looked, and the soldiers looked back.  
  
Suddenly, the men started talking, murmuring, yelling, with an explosion of noise.   
  
"...widow..."  
  
"....war is not over, then, Fate curse it..."  
  
"That is Kentai! I know him!"  
  
"And that mute!"  
  
Reni flinched. Anger rose in Saali's chest, and she shouted, "His NAME is EMRENI and he is on a VOW OF SILENCE!" The men looked at her simultaneously for a moment, unease, amusement, even fear in their eyes. Then they turned abrubtly back to their friends.  
  
"...Tai is cursed, then, certainly!"  
  
"Do not talk like that!"  
  
"Is the mute cursed?"  
  
"...did not talk to her, obviously, so most likely not..."  
"...said he was not mute..."  
  
"She lies!"  
  
"What is she doing...?"  
  
"Why are we turning back..."  
  
"Well, obviously!"  
  
"...take her back home, Fate knows -"  
  
The last speaker was interrupted by an ear-splitting, scratchy shout from Sir, who obviously knew very well how to project his voice. "ORDER IN THE RANKS! MUMAK-MAN, GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE THIS MINUTE! WE DO NOT HAVE ALL DAY, YOU INCOMPETENT DULLARD!"  
  
Reni made what was unmistakeably an offensive gesture in Sir's direction. He then swung himself down onto the rope ladder and began with dignity to climb, ignoring the whispers from below. Kentai followed.  
  
"He shall curse us all!" A voice rose above the whispers, and several soldiers cried agreement.   
  
Kentai grinned at them and threatened all sorts of bodily harm. His grin, Saali realized, was a fierce one, and she wondered why he had risked an enemy of every man there in the first place, if only to be her friend.  
  
Reni shook his head knowingly, and Tai seemed to understand. "You all believe that nonsense about widows?" he bellowed, then cursed some more as he tried to avoid stepping on Reni's head as they descended the long, swaying ladder.   
  
Most shouted "Yes!", and those who wanted to be different, "Of course!" Those who did not believe it wanted, apparently, to keep their beliefs private. Saali tried to force out the cold lump that sat heavily in her stomach. Her face was stiff and expressionless. She hated them. All of them.  
  
"Well!" Tai replied. "I AM NOT DEAD!" Saali's throat twisted. Not all of them. He defended her. Reni would, if he could. Tai continued,"You believe in LIES -"  
  
"THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH, PRIVATE!" Sir looked as if he could supply enough anger for three people at the moment. Emreni had reached the earth, quickly followed by Kentai, and Sir commanded of Reni, "Lead him back. NOW!"  
  
Reni gave an obliging sort of smile, which disappeared as soon as he turned away from Sir. He gave a small hand motion, and suddenly the room was bumping again, only slowly. Saali slammed the door and threw herself to the ground, feeling squeezed all over with tears she would not allow to fall. She did not cry.  
  
Her many bruises also did not help. She drifted at a painfully slow speed to sleep  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next day, around noon, Kentai swung open the door without knocking, sporting a black eye and a cut lip, and grinning, as always. "There was a bit of a brawl last night," he announced cheerfully as he climbed stiffly into the room. "Had to fight a bit to get up here, as well. Here is your food!" He dumped the same sort of bag he had delivered yesterday at her feet.  
  
"Why?" Saali wanted to know.  
  
"Oh, they are stupid. They think I somehow managed not to be cursed the first twenty or so times I spoke with you, and I may catch the curse if I talk to you now." Tai shrugged, as if it were no big deal that he was all beat up. "Reni has to stay down with the mumaks - Sir threatened his life if anything else happened," he added.  
  
Saali frowned at the floor. " I just - thank you," she choked suddenly.   
  
"For what?" Tai laughed. Everything was a joke with him, Saali thought.  
  
"Everything. Not turning me in - right away, at least. Catching me when I would have fallen. Telling them off. Visiting me now," she listed, still looking at the floor. "I owe you."  
  
Tai just shrugged.  
  
"You do not have to do this. You could leave me alone. Let them like you again," Saali told him, trying to keep from sounding cold and failing.  
  
"I do not care who likes me," Tai informed her. "And now, my princess, I must leave you. Farewell!" he sighed with false drama, and began to shimmy down the ladder to where a few men jeered up at him.  
  
Saali considered telling him that she was not his princess. But she rather liked him calling her that. And his bruises gave him a certain -  
  
She slapped herself, hard, then returned to brooding over her fast-approaching death sentence.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`  
  
Through the crack where the door met the wall, Saali watched as her mumak lumbered through the city. People pressed up against houses and walls as it passed, not wanting to be trampled. She could almost feel them wondering why an entire company of soldiers was making its way, slowly, towards the Palace.  
  
In the Widows' District, she could have sworn she'd seen Niera and Tashkann. They had watched with curious eyes as her mumak passed, and scanned the soldiers, looking for their Tasaali. It was unbearable. She had pounded on the door, but they did not look up. She wanted to leap down from her perch and rejoin them, take back the life she had hated only a few weeks earlier, erase all that had happened. But she could not.  
  
She was going to her death.  
  
She was going to die and she knew it.  
  
But she did not accept it. Not yet.  
  
Her mind was a haze of panic. She leaned her head on the wall and rocked back and forth, back and forth... She was caged. This was her prison. She wanted out. She needed out!  
  
Suddenly, her mumak halted so abruptly that she slid forward a few feet. A minute later, there was a businesslike rap on the door.  
  
"Go away!" Saali yelped, almost pathetically.  
  
"As your commanding officer, I DEMAND entrance!" Sir's voice was a lot less raspy when heard through wood. Without waiting for her reply, he slammed open the door and jumped in.  
  
Saali said nothing, peering out of her panicked mind into his dark eyes.  
  
"Here," he said urgently. He handed her a full canteen and a black strip of cloth, the kind many soldiers tied around their foreheads to keep sweat out of their eyes. Actually, he more like shoved them into her hands. "Take out that braid," he ordered her, waving a hand at the braid nearest her widow's lock.  
  
"Why...?" Saali shrank back.  
  
"Just do it." When Saali did not, he barked, "NOW!"  
  
Startled, Saali yanked out the hair tie that held that braid and pulled the three strands of hair apart. She glanced up at her seemingly insane captain.   
  
"Now braid your lock into it. Do it! Use the water to keep it in, then tie the cloth around it." When Saali hesiatated, he gave a sort of growl-sigh. "I do not have all day! The King's judgement will be less severe if he does not know you are a widow. Now go!"  
  
Saali furrowed her brow and looked at him, looked harder than before. He did not wish her dead? He was trying to **protect** her?  
  
"THAT IS AN ORDER!"  
  
Saali jumped, then sloshed the canteen over her hair and began to braid, incorporating her widow's lock into the rest of the hair. When she finished, she tied the cloth around her head, making sure to cover that part of the braid.  
  
"Well," Sir said rather awkwardly, "That is better." He gave her a sharp nod, then disappeared down the rope ladder.  
  
Saali watched him go. He would not get any trouble from the soldiers for talking to her, that she knew, although she had often heard throughout the return voyage talk of how he was leading them wrong, and surely they were all cursed. If anyone dared to challenge him, who knows what he would do to them... but now that she thought of it, as a matter of fact, he had not done anything to anyone the entire time, not more than yelling at them, at least.   
  
She sighed and slumped against the wall. She just couldn't figure him out.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. The Palace

*GASP* Only one review for the last chapter? Only one for poor Steelsheen? Thanks, red mage, but... *bursts into tears* Oh, wait, there's another one, yay... but still, only two... *sob*  
  
Disclaimer: *is crying too hard to say anything* *official-looking person takes over and announces in official-sounding voice, "standard disclaimers apply"*  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Chapter Six: The Palace  
  
**Saali was trembling and sweating by the time they arrived at the gate of the palace. She had heard many stories about what happened to people who entered here, and most of them were quite unpleasant. One, however, had been about a thief boy who fell in love with the twenty-sixth princess, and she focused her whole mind just on telling that story in her head, word for word, to keep from having a heart attack.   
  
Sir fetched her from the tower rather rudely, by slamming open the door and saying, "Come on already. We do not have all day."   
  
Her legs trembled as she climbed down the rope ladder. It was the strangest feeling, as if they weren't there at all. She couldn't tell if they were or not, as she could barely see anything in the blinding sunlight, after being in the cursed room for a week. She could hear all right, though, and what she heard was jeering and whispering and the general noise of a suspicious, hateful group of people, and she gave as good as she got. She hated them just as much, if not more.   
  
"QUIET, ALL!" Sir roared, and Saali flinched - she still hadn't quite gotten used to the throat-ripping-out sensation of his yells. "NOW! You are to wait HERE! Do not even get the IDEA of deserting, SCUM!"  
  
Saali's foot hit the road hard, which was how she found out she was not on the ladder anymore. The road - they were on a paved road! Not sand! She shuddered. Why would someone as wealthy as the King, who lived on a paved road, care for a poor widow like herself? Her thoughts whirled as she staggered about blindly, trying to make sense of where she was through squinted slits of eyes.   
  
A hand on her shoulder steadied her. She squinted up at its owner. She had begun to see, if painfully brightly, the silhouettes of things, and she just barely recognized Kentai's outline. "You have gone blind, then, have you?" he asked jovially, and she wished she could see his grin.  
  
He then looked at Sir. "May we," he gestured to Reni, who stood silently behind him, "come along?"  
  
Sir just looked at him.  
  
"Oh," Kentai said sarcastically - Saali could make out his features by now - "I mean, 'Sir, may we come along, sir? Sir?' "  
  
Sir gave a long, tired sigh. "I suppose so. They will send a hand to look after the mumaks."  
  
Saali had a Tai moment, in which she saw quite clearly in her mind a very large disembodied hand stroking a mumak's trunk. "I cannot believe I just thought of that," she whispered to herself.  
  
"Hm?" Kentai looked confused.  
  
"Nothing," Saali snapped, and trotted after Sir as the gatewardens hauled open the great iron . She wanted to sprint the other way, but somehow managed not to.  
  
She had thought something would happen once she passed through the gate - it would become cool and breezy, perhaps, or silent, or maybe someone would even shoot her full of arrows as soon as she entered. But nothing did. She still trotted down a dusty paved path -  
  
But suddenly she was surrounded by lush greenery, something she'd never seen before. She gave a small cry as the leaves closed in around her, forming a roof over her head. She slowed down a moment to spin and look around at the walls of leaves, but Sir snapped at her to keep up -  
  
And now they were in front of a pair of huge, vast doors, made of wood - real wood, from trees! - and laced with gold designs, perfectly symmetrical, set in a totally smooth clay wall taller than any wall she'd ever seen. Kentai gave a small sigh of awe from behind her, and then the doors were creaking open from the inside, one inch at a time -  
  
And they were striding down a long corridor, made of plan clay, like most of the houses in the city, although it was noticeably smoother - fine craftsmanship, that! It was very small, and low-roofed; Kentai had to stoop to walk, and Saali had nearly to skip to keep up with Sir's deliberate stride -  
  
And they were in, and oh! Jewels and gold and silver and rows upon rows of pillars with swirls and designs of every sort, a roof taller than four normal houses stacked on top of each other, beautiful glass lamps with roaring flames large as campfires and the stiflingly strong scent of incense all around. Saali had the feeling she could buy the whole second-wall district with the contents of a single pillar. The most obvious of the designs, though one had to stare at a wall for a long time to make anything out, were the snakes - hundreds upon thousands of them slithering motionless all over, pieced together from rubies and gold and some glinting black stone Saali didn't know, representing the twists and turns of life, Harad's symbol in all its glory.   
  
The contents of the great hall would explain the guards posted every ten feet or so, huge men with spears who all looked as if removing Saali's head from her neck would be no big chore for them. Saali shuddered, completely overwhelmed by the beauty of the hall and her own terror. "It is a sight..." Kentai sounded like he had no idea what he was saying.  
  
Somehow she made it down the main path of the hall, between the pillars, her booted feet clomping on the stone floor and echoing unpleasantly throughout the hall. The King sat on an enormous golden throne at the end of the hall - or so Saali assumed; as soon as she saw the chair she looked down, afraid to meet the monarch's eyes. She knelt clumsily, following Sir's example, and stared at the floor, trying not to breathe too much incense.  
  
"My liege," Sir intoned raspily, with respect strange to hear from him. "Captain Nineyi son of Ekrosha." (Nineyi, Saali thought. I will remember that.) "I come humbly seeking your counsel on an important manner."  
  
"Rise," the King said wearily. His voice had a certain deep, hollow sound to it, like a large bell. "Kneeling is painful on a stone floor, I should think."  
  
Saali was very startled. She remained kneeling numbly for a moment, until Kentai seized her by the arm and hauled her up. She continued to look down.  
  
"Who are they?" the King inquired.  
  
"Private Kentai, of my regiment, and, er -" Sir coughed. "Er, the mumak-man." Saali could practically feel Reni's glare from behind her. "And this is Tasaali, the issue I must speak to you about."  
  
Saali was just beginning to fume about being called an issue, when the King spoke to her. "You may speak for yourself, Tasaali. Why are you here? Look at me."  
  
Saali's eyes widened and she raised her head to meet the eyes of the ruler. He was a rather large man, draped in a red robe embroidered with gold and absolutely huge pants, the ends of which trailed beneath his feet. Saali, as she thought, could have used them as a very nice quilt. His very long hair was braided with gold thread, and his eyes were deep-set and dark.  
  
He heaved a large sigh. "I said, why are you here?"  
  
"Er. Well." Saali's voice was a thin croak. "I, er, I -" She had to look down again. "I impersonated a soldier, sir, I mean, my liege, your majesty."  
  
There was a long silence. The King seemed to take his time with speaking. "How so?" was all he finally said.  
  
"Well, si - your majesty, I, er, dressed up, I mean, put on a uniform, and, er, left.... with the troops. I pretended I was a man."  
  
Silence. Finally, "Why? Look at me."  
  
Saali did. "Er, well... I, er, I did not enjoy... life at home, my liege."  
  
Silence. "Where is your husband?"  
  
Saali panicked, eyes darting back and forth. "I - I - I have none, si - my liege! Your majesty!"  
  
"If you do not mind my interrupting," Kentai interrupted loudly, ignoring Sir Nineyi's death glare, "she was quite good at being a man. I believed her for a day, and I only found out because I was her tentie - shared a tent, I mean -"  
  
As Saali blushed furiously at the wrong-sounding-ness of that statement, the King interrupted. "I know what 'tentie' means. Did anyone else believe her?"  
  
"Well, yes, as I was saying, Reni here did until I told him, and everyone else did until Sir, i mean, Captain Nineyi -" he grinned fiendishly at Sir, like, I know your name! - "told them. She was real quiet, went unnoticed the entire time; it was very clever, if you do not mind me -"  
  
"Went unnoticed, you say?" The King seemed to be extremely deep in thought. "Quiet?"  
  
There was a hugely long silence, during which Saali could hear her own harsh breathing. Sir broke it, saying, "Well, there is no law against women in the army, so I thought I should... take it up with you, as it were..." very awkwardly. He must have been very flustered, since the "as it were" made no sense at all in the sentence.   
  
The King's silence dragged on and on and onnnnnn. When he did speak, everyone jumped except Reni, who continued to look at him in a cool, scrutinizing sort of way that suggested he was not impressed by the monarch. "Captain Nineyi. Turn around and walk that way," the King commanded.  
  
"Er... yes, your majesty?" Sir looked very confused, but did as he was told.   
  
"Stop," the king said, as if he asked people to walk and stop on a regular basis. Sir did, and looked back at them in a very flustered sort of way. It was pleasing, in a way, to see Sir ordered around, and apparently Kentai agreed with her unspoken thought, as he gave a large guffaw. Reni just raised an eyebrow at the ruler, clearly saying, is this some sort of joke?  
  
"I do not see anything funny. Now, Captain. Close your eyes." Kentai laughed harder as Sir did as he was told. Saali just wondered what the king intended to throw at Sir's back while he wasn't looking. "Tasaali. Walk up behind the captain."  
  
Saali furrowed her brow and walked toward Sir. Clomp, clomp, clomp went her boots on the floor. "No, no," the King corrected her impatiently. "Quietly. I want to see if you can sneak up on him. Captain, tell us when you hear Tasaali."  
  
Saali backed up and tried again, feeling like a piece on a game-board. Kentai was nearly doubled over with laughter. At first, her boots clomped still, but she stepped lighter on the floor, using all her leg muscles to keep from making a sound. As she drew closer to the captain, she held her breath and concentrated on remaining completely silent. Somehow, it felt natural, like she had known how all along.  
  
She got right up behind Sir, and she could practically feel him straining his ears to hear her. It made her feel giddy, powerful somehow. She tapped him on the shoulder, and he jumped, whirling around to face her. "How -" He stared at her. "I thought... you were still back there..."  
  
Traces of a smile formed on the King's face. "Very good," he mumbled. "Perhaps another try..."  
  
"You could try Reni." Kentai grinned recklessly at his king. "He has sharp ears." The King nodded, and Reni, frowning, went to stand where Sir had. Again, Saali was completely silent, and Reni knew nothing until she tapped him to let him know she was there.  
  
"Hmm." The King was obviously deep in thought. Reni gave him an extremely confused and incredulous look, which he didn't notice. The mumak-man continued by tapping a boot loudly. The monarch still did not budge.   
  
Soon, there were two pairs of boots tapping in unison, a Sir glaring fire at the owners, and a Saali staring at her feet, her mind racing. The King's voice broke into her thoughts. "Come toward me, now," he commanded, and closed his eyes.   
  
Reni looked as if he would very much like to cut the ruler's throat while he wasn't looking.   
  
Saali crept on cat feet toward the throne, stifling a gulp. What if she tripped and fell on the King, or what if he simply meant to grab her by the neck and strangle her when she didn't expect it? What she had seen of him did not vouch for his sanity... Worst of all, what if her widow's lock was slipping from its precarious hiding spot?  
  
When she got up close enough, she was too afraid to tap him on the shoulder. Instead, she cleared her throat loudly. The King jerked back to awareness. "Very good... very good... Do you speak the Common Tongue?"  
  
The question was so sudden, Saali hardly knew how to answer it. Most Haradic boys were taught quite a bit of Common as children - it was the mutual language of Harad, Umbar and Rhun, and it helped move trade along, so it was important to know some for use in the marketplace and such. It had also been the means of communication between Gondor and Harad in times less hostile. Since Saali had been taught everything a boy would have been, she was almost close to nearly fluent, but still could never have held a conversation. "I speak some Common," she answered in Common with a slight accent. She did not add that this was one sentence she had practiced often.   
  
"Very good..." the King said again. "We shall have to work out that accent, but it is nearly good enough..."  
  
"Er, my liege," Sir rasped. "Are, er, are you going to pass judgement on this woman?" Saali could tell he was worried about men deserting after being left alone so long.   
  
The King gave a long, thoughtful sigh. "I am thinking," he said, and paused. Reni tapped his foot even louder than before, and the ruler gave him a look before continuing. "I am thinking that if this woman is capable of disguising herself as a man, remaining quiet and unnoticed, and speaking and understanding the Common Tongue, then she could prove a valuable asset to the army of Harad."  
  
Saali was confused. She furrowed her brow as she waited for the King to continue. He did, saying, "From the beginning of this war, our weakness has always been information. We are fighting on unfamiliar turf, continually unaware of the enemy's position, and from what I have heard, our scouts are severely lacking in abilities and are nearly always caught." He paused, as if this much talk had wearied him. "If we could gain precise information on where the enemy is camped, how many there are, and suchlike, we could perhaps turn the tide. And if we could gain information on where they are going and their battle strategy, even better." He looked Saali, still puzzled, in the eye. "I believe Tasaali has the potential to become a spy."  
  
Saali let out her breath in a sharp whoosh. A spy? She, Tasaali daughter of Eishali, had POTENTIAL for something? Something valuable, something crucial? She was NOT GOING TO BE KILLED? Wait! She could barely speak Common, and she had never learned to be a spy - but she was going to live! She was going to be IMPORTANT! PURPOSE! These thoughts pounded against her skull, rapid-fire one after another.   
  
Sir gave a sort of cough. Reni raised his eyebrows. Tai was much less reserved; he let out a loud whoop and clapped excitedly.   
  
Sir Nineyi glared at the boisterous soldier. "My liege, she has no experience in this field, begging your pardon, majesty," he said hesitantly.   
  
"Well, she will get it soon enough," said the King reassuringly. "But there is one more thing - we must prove her skill with the sword. We cannot have her being killed defenseless in the field. Guards! Summon the Prince!"  
  
Saali saw, rather dizzily with relief, a brawny guard strike a huge gong, which echoed in her head long after the sound had faded. After a few minutes of waiting, a tall young man swaggered into the hall through a door that had been invisible a second ago. He wore a brightly colored, fine-cloth shirt and breeches, studded with jewels. After him padded a huge, spotted animal that looked vaguely like a cat, only vicious, with a jeweled collar around its neck. It hissed at the visitors, showing huge sharp teeth.  
  
"Quiet, Cat," the man said boredly, stroking the head of the beast self-assuredly. He must be very creative, to name the cat Cat, Saali thought vaguely. He is also not half bad-looking. "What did you want me for, Father?" the Last Prince sighed.   
  
"It is time to put all that swordplay to some use," his father informed him. "This woman," he indicated Saali with a sweep of a large hand, "may become a spy."  
  
The Last Prince snorted in a rather unprincely way. "You jest, surely," he scoffed.  
  
"Your clothes are a jest," Kentai offered, but no one was listening to him at that point.   
  
"No," The King intoned, "I always mean what I say. This woman has all the skills necessary to become a spy of the Grand Army of Harad, but we need to test her skills with a sword. You will fight her," he told his son, and there was no question of who was in charge there. "If she does well, she will be released to begin her training with Captain Nineyi's regiment. If she does poorly, well..." The monarch paused ominously. "If she does poorly, we shall see what will happen."  
  
The Last Prince drew a longsword from its heavily jeweled sheath on his belt, running a finger down the flat of the blade, then swinging it through the air a few times, quick, efficient cuts. He was skilled, quite skilled, Saali realized with a gulp, and he was eager to begin. He was not about to let a woman best him.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Worthy

Thanks muchly, Melime and Queen Isis! You are wonderful people for actually reviewing *coughs, trying to be subtle* *gives up on subtlety* C'mon, you guys, what happened to everyone? You gotta review, it's what keeps me going...  
  
Anyway, I feel accomplished because people are getting just what I intended from the characters - you're right, Queen Isis, I intended for Tai to be a kind of class-clown character, and I want him in my school! And also, the Prince IS a brat, you'll see more of that in this chappie. Melime, even I don't know what makes Sir tick. :P Sometimes I like him, and sometimes I don't.   
  
No, I am NOT insane!   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**  
  
Chapter Seven: Worthy  
  
**They were lead out another invisible door to what appeared to be a practice arena for swordfights. The King followed behind at a stately pace, guards on either side of him, which was perhaps a smart move since Reni was so obviously out of patience with the ruler. The arena was, unlike the rest of the palace, nothing special, it was outside in the sun, filled with sand, with a fence around it.   
  
The Last Prince looked at Saali once they got there with a sort of condescension that would have had the widow's blood boiling were she not so nervous. She grasped the hilt of her sword with a sweaty palm, as if to reassure herself it was still there. The jewels looked dull compared to those in the throne room.   
  
"Are you sure this is not a joke, Father?" the Prince drawled.  
  
The King ignored his son. "Prepare yourselves to fight," he commanded, gesturing to two small structures, one on either side of the arena, which appeared to be dressing rooms of some sort. Saali gulped, which felt awful in her paper-dry mouth, and nodded, hurrying into one of the structures and slamming the door. Peering out over the top of the door that was much too short for any sort of privacy, she caught glimpses of noblemen and women arriving and milling around the ring with an excited sort of tension. The woman had no idea how they knew what was going on, and wished they didn't so she could save herself some public humiliation.   
  
Kentai's face appeared over the door. "Hello." Emreni's head popped up for just a moment before he descended from his jump.   
  
"I could be dressing, for all you know," Saali informed them crossly.   
  
"You are not," the tall soldier pointed out, which Saali could not debate. "Hair all set?"  
  
Saali touched her head-wrap nervously. "Do you think it will stay in? I am as good as dead if it moves at all," she asked him nervously.   
  
"I have no idea. But is Sir - Captain Nineyi, is he not going to tell the King you are a widow?"  
  
Saali shrugged, not wanting even to attempt to explain the Captain's motivation not to kill her, since she wasn't sure of it herself.   
  
A hand appeared over the door, holding a pad of paper. THEY SAY ROYALS BLEED SILVER. Silver, in Harad, was much more valuable than gold, which they had in excess.   
  
"Make him bleed, Saali," Tai grinned encouragingly. "I could use the money."  
  
Saali gave a smile that looked more like a grimace and returned to checking her clothes. Her mail-coat was set, her boots laced tight, her head-wrap hopefully would not move...  
  
On Reni's paper: CAN YOU FIGHT?  
  
"I think so," Saali croaked. Her heart was pounding, her adrenaline telling her to run, run, RUN! "Fairly well... it has been a... a while..."  
  
"Want one of my bracelets?" Tai offered. Rolling back his sleeve, he showed her a thick brown wrist encircled by at least ten pure gold bracelets, some with patterns on them, some plain, one with a blood-red jewel in the center of the band.   
  
Saali wondered absently why she had not noticed them before. "Why would I want one?" she asked, confused.  
  
"They are not just bracelets," Tai said proudly. "They are my lucky bracelets."  
  
"Lucky?"  
  
"I have not died yet, have I?" the tall soldier shrugged.   
  
"I suppose not. But they are too big for my wrists, anyway," Saali informed him matter-of-factly. "Where did you get them all?"  
  
"I am a blacksmith by trade, or I was, before all this," Tai said, his grin growing bitter for a moment. "I made them. Whenever someone gave me gold to forge something for them, a necklace or something fancy like that, I would pinch a bit off and make myself a bracelet. And now I am lucky."  
  
"I shall take your word for it," Saali murmured as she stepped out into the glaring sun. Reni nodded respectfully as she passed, Tai gripped her shoulder for a moment before she continued on towards the fight and, perhaps, her self-condemnation. Her skin tingled where his hand had been.  
  
The Last Prince waited impatiently by the gate to the arena. A murmur ran through the crowd: "... a woman..." "...why..." "...will not last two minutes..." "...what?"  
  
"Shall it be death, or first blood, then?" the Prince sighed.  
  
"Er... can I choose?" Saali wasn't quite sure why he was even asking her, or even precisely what he meant.  
  
"The match shall end," the King said loudly as if the Prince had never spoken, "when the first blood is spilt."   
  
Not very comforting, but better than death, Saali decided.   
  
"Take your places," the King ordered. Saali and the Prince filed into the arena, the Prince walking to the far side with a cocky air. "Swords at the ready." They drew their weapons, Saali with sweaty hands, watching the bright steel glint in the sun. It gave her confidence, rather, to see the sword glint the way it had every day when she was a girl, every long, sweaty, grueling day of routine that made her arms ache and her father proud...   
  
Kentai leaned on the fence, clenching his fists, Reni's eyes blazed...  
  
"Begin," the King said casually.  
  
Saali and the Prince circled each other warily, sizing up their opponents. He was strong, Saali decided, and looked to have the reflexes of the cat he called Cat. He also looked practiced. She would have to be quick, and use his size against him, or he would beat her by force.   
  
Their circles grew gradually smaller, their paces measured. "Ready to lose, woman?" the Prince hissed.  
  
He was trying to get her angry, to distract her from the fight, Saali realized quite calmly. "As ready as I shall ever be," she replied quietly, to throw him off. Then, she wasted no time in charging him.   
  
He blocked swiftly and skillfully, taken only a bit by surprise. He was good. The clash of steel was deafening as her swipes were blocked again and again. She jabbed low, she jabbed high, he blocked her every time. As she grew more desperate, she put more of her whole body into the blows. He caught one on the edge of his blade and heaved her sword aside. She went with it, stumbling for a moment before catching her balance and leaping back into position, sword in guard position, ready if he attacked. But he did not.  
  
"It seems a shame," he purred, not even short of breath, "to do away with such a delicate opponent so quickly."  
  
"Have it your -" Saali cut off her own sentence by leaping at the Prince, swinging the blade in a downward curve toward his chest. He blocked jarringly, sending bolts of pain through her sword arm and throwing her off balance. And then came his attack, an avalanche of heavy blows that hurt to block. She held her sword so that they glanced off the side at first, but eventually she could not hold up her defense anymore, and spun away, dodging his blow. He ended up driving his sword deep into the sand.   
  
Saali came at him wildly, swinging her sword every which way, fire coursing through her veins and pounding in her head, she was going to win - but with a mighty heave, the Prince dislodged his sword from the ground and swung it into hers with a clang. Saali stumbled, her sword sliding along his until they were hilt to hilt. And the Prince was standing, leaning on her hilt, forcing her down with pure strength, she could not dislodge her sword, the hilts were locked - here was where she always lost - her knees bucked and her elbows gave way, and with a cry she dropped to the ground and rolled, coating herself in sand, frantically tossing and turning as her opponent's sword sliced into the ground right and left of her.   
  
Flipping onto her stomach, she swung her head from side to side, looking for him; she found him and thrust her sword up at his leg in a last desperate heave. Surprisingly, it worked - he had to stoop to block her blow, and she leapt to her feet, ready to block. But the Prince had backed off again, and they circled, sweat dripping into their eyes as they watched each other's every move. "You are a fiery one," the Prince murmured. "More so than I expected. But no matter."  
  
Saali did not answer, as a sudden terror struck her gut like a frigid knife. What if her hair had escaped? She reached a hand up to check - and it was in that moment that the Prince lunged, catching her off guard. She gained only a few feeble blocks before his sword slid up past hers, making a shallow slit in the side of her neck.   
  
She cringed as she felt the first drops of blood trickle down into the collar of her shirt - she had lost. The fire left her veins and was replaced by ice. She had LOST. What would happen to her now, now that she had been proved unworthy? She heard Kentai groan, then let loose with a few choice words from the fence. It wasn't fair; she had not fought anyone in too long; she was out of practice! She had lost...  
  
The Prince smiled smugly, showing perfect white teeth, and withdrew his sword. "An honor to fight you, my lady," he sneered, although Saali could tell he was breathing hard. At least she had given him a challenge. At least her hair was intact.  
  
The sand-crusted widow limped stiffly out of the arena, panting raggedly through a dry throat. She kept her eyes to the ground.   
  
"You had better get a bandage on that," Sir's voice said gruffly from behind her. Was he trying to hide disappointment, or not? Saali touched her wound - it wasn't deep, and it was only bleeding a bit.   
  
"You put up a good fight!" Kentai exclaimed. "I did not know you could fight!"  
  
Saali dared to glance up. Tai grinned at her; Reni just scowled at the Prince as he left, saying cheerfully, "Good day to you, Father." The various nobles scattered around the place began to disperse, some staring at Saali, some acting as if nothing had happened.   
  
"And to you," the King said politely to his son. He then turned and began marching back to the throne room without so much as another word, his guards surrounding him. One, more slight than the others, with upwardly-tilted eyes like Niera's, kept glancing back at Saali, as if he was afraid she would attack him.   
  
They all filed back into the throne room and waited as the King sat and looked at Saali with a drawn-out sigh. Dread was a lead weight in her stomach. Finally, the King said slowly, "Congratulations, Tasaali."  
  
Saali's head jerked up. "What? I mean, I apologize, my liege - but I lost!"  
  
"My son has studied swordplay since he could walk. It is a passion for him, a near obsession, and he practices incessantly, since he has nothing else to do, anyway. It is, perhaps, all he is good for." The King inserted one of his fatigued-sounding pauses.  
  
"Make him join the army," Tai muttered. "That would give him something to do, for certain."  
  
"He is, if I may say so, most likely the best swordsman in Harad. You lasted longer against him than anyone I have ever seen. You have skill, Tasaali, and you have proven yourself. Welcome to the army. You are now, as of this moment, a spy." The King almost smiled.  
  
The ice in Saali's veins turned to bubbles, and she was dizzy with elation and relief. "Thank you, your majesty," she managed to say. Kentai let out a whoop, laughing hysterically, and Reni smiled for the first time that day. Sir just nodded.  
  
"Captain Nineyi and company, you are dismissed," the royal intoned, and the four began their journey back out into the sunlight.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
**  
  
**  
  



	9. Foreign Soil Not Sand

Ahem. I knew that last chapter was number eight. I was just testing you. Yup. ^-^;;;  
  
Cheers to Melime, Soledad, and yay for my new person, Nerwen Something-I-can't-spell! By the way, Nerwen, we should form some kind of an authors' group or something, Writers of Stories about Countries Not Really In the Books Much... i've been reading your stories about Khand, and they're good!  
  
Ortaine Gamgee - luckily, nothing much happened in the second chapter. ^-^ Pretty much, she went to where the soldiers were all meeting to go off to war, and now she's marching out into the desert with them. Well, not now. But at the end of the second chapter. You know what I mean. Stupid code... *mumblegrumblemumble*  
  
I know, Melime, about good stories not getting reviews - ironic, isn't it? But I'm not bitter. Nope. Not at all.  
  
Disclaimer: Disclaimer is a funky word. Whee...  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
**Chapter Nine: Foreign Soil (Not Sand)  
  
**When Saali, Tai, Reni and Sir Captain Nineyi returned all in one piece, some of the men were incredulous. No one went into the palace seeking punishment and came out alive, why had Sir and the King let her live, she was a danger to them all, what did they intend to do with her, could she fight, blah, blah, blah. Saali tuned them out after a few minutes.   
  
On the other hand, some of the men were gone. So Saali supposed, listening to Sir curse the deserters loudly and unabashedly, that to be there and rebellious was better than not to be there at all.   
  
When Sir finished cursing, he made an announcement. "Tasaali, daughter of Eishali, is now a member of our regiment. She will serve as a spy against our enemy, the Rangers of Ithilien. I do not expect ANY of you to give her any trouble. UNDERSTAND?" His tone did not make one inclined not to understand. An undercurrent of mutterings went through the troops. Saali did not look up. Feet were very interesting things.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Nikat, son of Yasha, stood among his fellow soldiers and gazed piercingly at the woman who looked at the ground. Where did she come from? What made her want to be a soldier, when men went to extremes to avoid the draft? She was mysterious. Perhaps she was not cursed, like the rest of the widows.  
  
Fate will most likely strike me down for thinking that, or so the Fatespeakers would tell us, he mused.  
  
His friends jabbed him. "What is wrong with Sir? He is being even more daft than usual, letting this widow take such an important job. Look at her!" growled Anrami. Nikat did not tell him that he was already doing so.  
  
"We shall all die," announced Panim in his usual cheerful manner.   
  
Nikat nodded, though his head was heavy with questions.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saali marched with the soldiers this time exiting the city, although "with" may have been an overstatement. They all ignored her and walked slightly ahead of her, with one exception. One tall, thin soldier, with delicate features beneath the rim of his helmet, kept glancing back at her with startling brown eyes, lighter than his skin. She met his gaze evenly the second time, and glared at him the third. She was not in the mood for these games.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
That night, they met an obstacle they had not expected. The errand man, serving as a tent-deliverer, gave Kentai a tent and left without a second glance at Saali.  
  
"Er. Now that everyone knows..." Saali squirmed uncomfortably. "Do you not think..."  
  
"Hm?" Tai was busy hammering stakes into the sand with his sword-hilt.   
  
"We only have one tent," she reminded him. "People will, er... talk..."   
  
Sir, who had been hanging about Saali all that day like a bird watching its prey, only in a slightly less predatory fashion, came out of nowhere. "This is a problem," he asserted loudly.  
  
"Yes. It is," Saali agreed.  
  
"We have no more tents. I could... give you a blanket, to hang in the middle of the tent for privacy, I suppose. Yes. That is it. That is what we will do," he announced, and fled to find a blanket.  
  
Tai grinned. "Who wants to have their own tent, princess, when they can sleep with me?"  
  
"In your tent, not WITH you," Saali snapped, and did not speak to her tentie for the rest of their blanket-separated night.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
They marched for day after sweaty day, night after frigid desert night. Indeed Saali wondered what they intended to do with her when they got there, wherever they were going. She had no idea how to be a spy. She did not even know what she would find in this strange land called Gondor.  
  
One day, when they had come to the region of the desert that was filled with a smattering of cacti, bushes and what would have been flowers if there had been any rain lately, she began to see a dark greenish line along the horizon. It grew thicker as they walked. At first, Saali thought it was a mirage - she was rationing her water, which basically meant she was thirsty ALL the time, so she was prone to mirages. But it stayed with her throughout the day, and at dusk, she sat with Reni as Tai pitched the tent.  
  
"You have been to enemy country before, have you not?" she asked softly. "What is that? There, on the horizon."  
  
Reni got out his trusty pen and paper. TREES. TREE IS LIKE CACTUS WITH LEAVES. AND BIG.  
  
"How very odd. How big?"  
  
Reni gestured up toward one of his mumaks, whose leg he leaned against.  
  
"THAT big?" Saali yelped, looking up at the towering creature. Gondor was strange indeed. "I would not want to be speared on one of those!"   
  
NO THORNS.  
  
"Oh. That is even odder." Saali frowned at the horizon. What strange land were they going to? She knew nothing here, was of no use. She denied that the feeling in her stomach was fear.  
  
Reni scribbled swiftly, obviously wanting to say more than he could on paper. It was at these moments that Saali wondered how he kept his vow of silence. Finally, he held up his pad: TARKS CALL IT ITHILLYENN. WE CALL IT THE LEAF CITY. IS STRANGE - YOU WILL SEE.  
  
"I am sure it is," the widow murmured, the thick green line reflected in her eyes as the daylight gave way to night.   
  
She was so focused on not focusing on anything that she didn't notice when Tai crept up behind her.  
  
"Tent up, princess!" he chirped.  
  
Saali jumped a foot. "Do not call me princess!" she yelped. Once she got her breath back, she remembered what she had meant to ask him. "What, er... what happens once we get there, anyway?"  
  
"We fight. The tarks are good skirmishers - they hide in the trees, all dressed in green, and they shoot at us when we least expect it." For just a moment, Saali thought she saw sadness cross her cheerful friend's face. "We lost half our men last time. That was my first time in battle." He paused, gritting his teeth. His eyes took on a sort of haunted look. "Good men. They dropped like flies when the first volley hit. We did not have time to think. Some were friends of mine. They did not deserve to die." Suddenly, he sighed and grinned again. "And that is why you are needed, prin - er, lady. To find out when they will strike and where, so we will never least expect it." Reni nodded, features grim.  
  
Saali wondered how she was expected to find that out. Also, if memories of a battle could somber Kentai, she was not quite sure she wanted to see battle herself.   
  
For a moment, the three were silent. The air was thick with one question - why were they fighting, anyway? What was in it for them?  
  
The silence was broken by an unfamiliar sneering voice. "How romantic."  
  
Tai whirled, obviously startled, and seemingly recognized the man. "Good evening, Private Anrami," he said in his mock-formal voice.  
  
Anrami glared at him through squinting black eyes, which Reni met with a glare twice as intense from practice. He was flanked by a man with a very long face in both senses, and the tall bright-brown-eyed man who had looked at Saali before - his backup, she wondered? Brown-eyes had a strange expression on his face as he looked from his leader to Tai to Saali and back again. "Sharing a private moment, are we?"  
  
"We are not," Tai answered articulately. Saali got the feeling he didn't like the man from the vicious aspect of his grin.  
  
"Has she ever seen battle before, I wonder?" Anrami mused, seemingly to himself but obviously aimed at the widow. "Or will she run screaming at the sight of blood?"  
  
"No," Saali said curtly and icily.  
  
"Or will she laugh," Anrami's long-faced companion intoned morosely, "as we are all shot? Although we would probably die anyway, even if she had not brought this curse upon us."  
  
Saali did not respond to that, choosing instead to stare stony-faced at the men.  
  
"I am sure many would rejoice, were you to be shot," Tai commented quite cheerfully.  
  
Anrami took a menacing step forward, and leaned so that his rather large nose was about an inch from Kentai's. His eyes were so squinted by now, they were barely visible. "We do not want her among us. She is cursed. She is not welcome."  
  
"I am sure you would get your message across much more easily if you spoke directly to me," Saali informed him flatly. Her voice only trembled a tiny bit.   
  
"She ought to get used to not being spoken to," Anrami hissed into Kentai's face.  
  
Kentai tweaked his nose.  
  
The other man gave a cry of outrage and jumped back. He squinted at Kentai, furious, and for a moment Saali expected a full-fledged fistfight to ensue. But, eventually, he drew a deep breath. "You are truly mad, Kentai. But no matter. You may be cursed if you so wish, and the mute, as well."  
  
The one who was not mute took the opportunity to spit dangerously close to the boots of the one who had accused him of being mute.   
  
Anrami ground the spit violently into the sand with his heel, turning his squint on Reni for the moment. "She has no experience. She shall faint at her first good sight of the tarks. You mark my words. And we shall not speak to her, the wench."  
  
"Good," Saali spat.  
  
Anrami spun on his heel and strode off, followed closely by his right- and left-hand men. Bright brown eyes met her black ones for a moment, then looked away.  
  
"May the Faceless Ones eat your remains!" Kentai called happily after them.  
  
Saali did not bother to ask who the Faceless Ones were - most of Tai's curses didn't make sense, anyway. She slipped into the tent, cuccooned in her bedroll, and sunk into sleep with a heavy heart and a feeling like a knife plunged deep into her gut, a feeling she had tried so hard to avoid since she was widowed, but still it returned. Perhaps the knife was always there, and experiences like this just grabbed it and twisted it by the hilt until she had no choice but to notice the pain.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saali was breathless as the soldiers entered the great Leaf City. Trees truly were strange things - large brown scaly pillars covered at the top by a carpeting of leaves, like strange, short green hair. Parts of the pillars extended outward and split off, like veins, to support the leaves, which were thin and papery, not at all like the fat-juicy cactus leaves of the desert. Being in "Ithillyenn" was like being in a very large room with a breeze.  
  
And how cold it was! And how windy! Such a strange place! So chilling! And so shady! And how ALIVE everything was! And how green! Even the ground was covered with green fuzz! And the ground was so... squishy! And wet! Were they still in the same world? And -  
  
"Keep up, Tasaali," Sir barked as he walked beside her. He had insisted that she walk up front with him. "You must pay attention to this route, know it like the creases of your palm. You will know how to get to our hideout from all directions. Learn the landmarks."  
  
Saali looked around, but all the trees and various other green things looked exactly the same to her. Landmarks? She held her tongue, and took the opportunity to listen to all the strange noises that surrounded them. Birds, perhaps, were making them, or small animals? They did not sound like the little cactus owls or the hissing of the desert lizards and snakes. Saali wondered vaguely if they had scorpions in the Leaf City - many a panicked shout had been heard in the camp when a scorpion had been discovered in a sleeping bag.  
  
Soon, they crested a grassy hill, dotted with strange flowers and sprouting bushes like hair. On the way back down, Sir looked in all directions, then stamped twice on a large, flat rock Saali hadn't noticed a moment ago. He then leaned down so that his mouth nearly touched the rock and spoke a Haradic word - "Kuleshna!"  
  
There was a long pause, then a rumbling that sounded like it came from inside the hill, and suddenly, the rock sprang up out of the ground and was hefted aside by many hands. Friendly voices called out to them in Haradic, beckoning them down the dark tunnel that had been revealed by the removal of the rock.  
  
Sir knelt and slipped down into the dank darkness below, motioning for Saali to follow. "Last one in closes it up again!" he shouted up at the soldiers from the depths.  
  
Saali gulped and let herself drop. Her feet hit the ground hard, and she almost fell before stumbling blindly downhill, guided by random arms and hands of the people who had opened the way. After what felt like an age, the rocky ground leveled out, and they emerged into a huge torchlit cave. It appeared to be natural; there were stalactites and stalagmites in abundance, and murky pools dotted the floor. What looked to be a regiment of soldiers much like Captain Nineyi's was camped among the pools, and there was still space for another. Not a very pleasant place to camp, but a useful one.  
  
"What IS this?" she wondered aloud as she gazed around. A few of the soldiers who had helped her along now stared at her and whispered amongst themselves. Saali ignored them.  
  
"It was discovered at the start of the war by accident, when a man fell down the tunnel," Sir told her with a snort that was clearly directed at clumsy-incompetent soldiers. "And it has been our base ever since. Not very cozy, but you get used to it. You will report back here after all your errands."  
  
Saali nodded, then thought for a moment. "The password," she said slowly at long last.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"It is 'pineapple'?" she inquired, a smile teasing her lips.  
  
"Well, the tarks will not figure that one out, will they?" Sir said quite reasonably.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. In Which Saali Hopes Practice Makes Perf...

Greets, all! Melime, Queen Isis, and Nerwen Calaelen (I'm callin' you Cally from now on :P) are the special ones at the moment for reviewing.   
  
Melime - Glad I made you laugh. ^.^  
  
Isis - Glad you're back! We will be seeing some more of her widow friends eventually, but not for a while. And no, it's nowhere NEAR the end. :P  
  
Cally - Thanks for the advice about reviews! It makes a lot of sense - I read my reviewers' profiles, too... can't believe I didn't figure that out earlier... *goes off to submit ten billion reviews*   
  
You know what's a good movie? Mulan. :D   
  
Disclaimer: Dis (verb) (slang): to insult or disrespect. Claimer: (noun) one who makes a claim. Therefore - Disclaimer (noun): One who makes an insulting claim. I am a disclaimer, and I claim that you all have cheese for brains. Which wouldn't actually be so bad.   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**  
Farahaa'sa Net (Chapter Ten): In Which Saali Hopes Practice Makes Perfect   
  
**Saali and Tai finished pitching their tent in a record amount of time, for it was COLD in the cave, and they wanted somewhere to lie down and get warm again. But, apparently, Saali's day was not over. Sir appeared out of nowhere, as he was wont to do these days, and gestured to Saali. "Come," he commanded, and Saali did.  
  
He spoke to her as they made their way through the maze of stalagmites and pools. "Tomorrow, you will go into real spy training with me. Tonight, however, you will brush up on your Common skills - you are of no use if you cannot understand the talk you are eavesdropping on. I have found the man most fluent in Common of all the men in the camp to tutor you, as I am not so skillful."  
  
Saali groaned inwardly. She was too cold to learn a language. "Yessir," she mumbled tiredly.  
  
At this point, they were standing in front of a tent. Sir pulled open the flap and bent to look in. "Here she is," he told the men inside.  
  
Saali bent to look as well, and when she saw who they were, her insides turned to ice. On the bedroll to the left sat Brown-eyes, Anrami's companion, and on the one to the right, surrounded by large and intimidating-looking books, sat Long-face, his other friend. Long-face peered at her out of large, dark, suspicious eyes, whereas Brown-eyes looked a bit afraid of her, as well as curious.  
  
"Tasaali, meet Private Panim, your tutor," Sir said briskly. "Now get on with it!" he added in a bark, then left.   
  
Saali stood awkwardly at the opening in the tent, not sure whether to step inside or make a break for it. Brown-eyes murmured, "Think I will leave you two alone," and crept past Saali and out into the cave with an apologetic glance back at his friend.   
  
"Er, hello," Saali muttered, eyes cast down.  
  
"Will she not come in? She is allowing the cold air into our living space," Panim intoned somberly. His voice was very deep and rich-sounding, and he spoke eloquently, perhaps even too eloquently to be appropriate. And he spoke to her using "she" instead of "you". At least he was not being openly nasty.   
  
Saali hurried in obligingly, taking care to tie the tent flaps into place, and sat on Brown-eyes' bedroll. "So. Er. Shall we get started, then?" she offered, then, figuring she should at least try, added, "You really can speak straight to me, you know. Kentai has not died yet, and he talks with me all the time."  
  
"She does not understand that I am just taking all the possible precautions. I have no qualms with her specifically, I simply do not wish to be sent by Fate to an early grave at the moment, although like all other things that walk this earth, I must eventually perish." Panim's huge, sorrowful eyes met hers, and she thought they were very pretty, although she would never admit it to anyone. His voice was nice as well, although he sure did take a roundabout route in getting to the point. "Surely she understands," he finished, and folded long, elegant hands in his lap.   
  
"She" sighed. Basically, he was a coward, like the rest of them. But, in a way, he was speaking to her, and she did not want to make an enemy, although up until now she had thought of him as one for being allied with Anrami. "I suppose I understand," she said gruffly, and suddenly she felt sad, as she had realized she would never hear him say her name in his beautiful bass tones.   
  
"Good. I am thankful for that. Now, then, let us begin. Is she even mildly proficient in the Common Tongue?" he inquired rather condescendingly.  
  
"She is - I mean, I am," Saali said hastily, although "mildly proficient" could mean many things.  
  
"Of course she is," the elegant man said sweetly. "Now let me hear her say 'I am mildly proficient in the Common Tongue.' "   
  
Saali cleared her throat. "Er. Ah. I am... jushish n'faraah (a/n: mildly proficient in Haradic)... in the Common Tongue." She blushed brightly.   
  
Panim gave a long, sad sigh. "We have much to accomplish," he said in perfectly un-accented Common, then translated it into Haradic: "Insilhe n'tiham sjihalla adroh'ianahi." (a/n: remember that all along they've been speaking in Haradic, they didn't just start now, it's just that steelsheen didn't want to go to the trouble of making up words until it was absolutely necessary.)   
  
"We have much to a-com-plish," Saali parroted his Common words, before blushing and falling silent.  
  
"That was fairly good. She has some potential. However, she will have to learn much in very little time. It shall be a hard task. I doubt it shall ever be done," Panim said pessimistically in Haradic. "For practicality's sake, we shall start with the numbers. Ik, nieh, riha, shai, douf, owt, siha, elone, nihi, net - one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten."  
  
Saali recalled this vaguely from when her father had taught her. She repeated the numbers perfectly, and was very proud of herself afterwards.  
  
"Good," Panim said in Common, then again in Haradic. He continued in their own tongue - "Now y - she shall learn up until one hundred, since she has proven her intelligence so excellently. Here - all the numbers ought to be contained somewhere in this text," he instructed her as he hefted a very large leather-bound book into her lap. "And she should learn as many army-related words as she is humanly able from this Haradic-Common dictionary." He dumped another fat book on top of the other one, making Saali feel like there was a large boulder in her lap. She wondered where he got, and kept, all these books. She had the feeling he was fairly upper-class - well-schooled, eloquent, the keeper of all these fine books, and just the slightest bit snobbish. Perhaps the son of some sort of lesser noble.  
  
"Now, if she would allow me to obtain my necessary nighttime slumber..."  
  
"Er, yes, of course. Thank you," Saali said sincerely as she attempted to pick up her homework. She then repeated "thank you" in Common - her father had taught her that the worst thing to be when closing a deal with a foreign trader was ungrateful.  
  
"You are - SHE is welcome," Panim corrected himself belatedly. "May the Faceless Ones ignore her body, once it is strewn out bloody on the battlefield along with the rest of her fellows," he added morosely and with much unnecessary gore.   
  
This was the second time Saali had heard of these "faceless ones", and now she knew it wasn't just a nonsensical Kentai curse. "Who - who are these Faceless Ones, could you tell me?"  
  
"They are..." The man paled visibly for a moment, enshrouded in his own memories. "She will find out for herself, soon enough," he said finally with a shudder.   
  
Saali nodded, confused, and made for the exit.  
  
"She should wait a moment, if she so pleases," said Panim hastily. "If she could keep the details of our meeting from the rest of the soldiers, I would be very much obliged."  
  
He does not want to be known for associating with me, Saali thought, face burning. "Perhaps if you would speak to me directly, I would be more inclined to consider it. As it is now, I am not so sure," she said coldly, and her voice only trembled a bit. With that, she rushed out of the tent for a long night of studying.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next day, she awoke very achy from a night sleeping on the lumpy rock floor of the cave. Tai echoed her emotions. "Owwwwwwwwwwwww," he moaned as he sat up stiffly. "Fate curse these floors!" she heard him grumble through the blanket that separated them.  
  
"You should not say that. Perhaps now the tarks will come and kill us all in here," Saali scolded. "And now I must go off to be trained... as a spy..." It is all so strange, thought the young widow as she pulled on a second and third undershirt, her defense against the cold. All so sudden.  
  
Tai let out a long and very joyous string of curses from just a few inches to the right of her, and she jumped. It was funny, how she never knew exactly where he was on his side of the tent. "That was impressive," she informed him.  
  
"I try," sighed he, and that was the last she heard before she slipped out of the tent and into the bracingly chilly air.   
  
Sir waited for her at the mouth of the tunnel, as he'd said he would. "Tomorrow, you are awake before dawn," was his greeting. The widow stifled a groan.  
  
The captain continued. "I want twenty push-ups," he announced.  
  
"What?" Saali couldn't help but gasp before clapping a hand over her mouth. This early? And she wouldn't need to use her arms, anyway, being a spy!  
  
"You heard me," Sir drawled.  
  
Saali gritted her teeth and dropped to the ground. After seven, her arms gave out, and she could not push herself up again. Upper body strength was not her strong suit.   
  
"Keep at it," Sir barked, and Saali did six more before she collapsed again. She gave a low growl and forced herself up. She had to finish, she was as strong as any boy... I can do it, Papa, look how well I can swing a sword, look how fast I can run...  
  
"All right, enough already. Get up," commanded Sir, and Saali shakily managed to assume an upright position, wiping her now grimy and frigid hands on her third undershirt.   
  
Sir seemed to be waiting for her to say something, but her lips were firmly closed. At last, he gave her a very obvious cue. "I suppose you are wondering why you just did that."  
  
"No, not really, sir," Saali mumbled. Her face was still flushed with embarrassment.  
  
"Er." Sir didn't seem to know how to respond to that, and apparently decided to revert to his original answer. "Well, you did it because you must always do as I say. Trust your commanding officer. Never question him. It may make a life or death difference."  
  
Saali nodded. "Yessir."  
  
"Er. Let us begin, then."  
  
"Whatever you say, sir."  
  
Sir, apparently, had been expecting her to be much more difficult. He did not know she had stayed up until the wee hours learning the numbers from one to one hundred and the words sword, soldiers, men, camp, shield, mail, plans, top, secret, information, and location in Common, all the while shielding her candle with one hand and balancing her book on one leg so Tai wouldn't see the light and tell her to go to sleep, Fate curse it! Therefore, the captain dived right in.   
  
"Let us begin with a hypothetical scenario. You are eavesdropping on an important conversation, when one of the people involved sees you and asks you who you are. What do you say?"  
  
Saali answered immediately, "I am Tasaali of Harad. I did not mean to interrupt your private conversation, sir, and I am very sorry."  
  
Sir made a face as if he'd been stabbed. "No, no, NO! You NEVER tell them your name. 'Sorry' will not make a difference out there. Talk around it. Try again."  
  
"All right, then." Saali thought a moment. "I do not matter to you, sir, I am simply collecting the delicious, er... forest fruits."  
  
Sir looked only slightly less pained. "Well, that is a bit better, I suppose. Now, they ask you if you are a spy. Or, more likely, they just start shouting, 'Spy!' What do you do?"  
  
"I am not a spy, sir! I was, er..." Saali got an idea. "I was a hostage! Oh, woe is me, they had me in their clutches, but I escaped! Those filthy Haradic soldiers! Curse them! Curse them for all of eternity! Thank you so much, you have saved my life -" Realizing she had worked herself into quite the fit, Saali blushed and cleared her throat.  
  
Sir's mouth showed what might have been a smile. "Good. Very good... You have some skill, Tasaali, daughter of Eishali." His smile disappeared, however, when he saw something over Saali's shoulder. "And what might Private Kentai be doing out and about so early in the morning?" he said icily.  
  
"We have come to watch, if you do not mind," Tai said cheerily, indicating Reni behind him. "Who knows, I may just decide to take up spying as a backup career. In case people stop needing nails and the like, you know."   
  
Sir scowled. "Well, if you are here, you might as well help. Stand beside Tasaali." Tai did so. "Tasaali, what do you do if someone grabs you from the side-" he motioned for Tai to do so - "when you are unaware?"  
  
Tai grabbed her arm; he was in for it now, she knew this one in her sleep. Shoving herself at him, she stomped with the heel of her boot as hard as she could in the region of his big toe, then, when he loosened his grip, she stabbed him beneath the ribs with a sharp, bony elbow. Tai gave an "oof" sound and loosened his grip; she was able to wriggle her arm from his grasp.   
  
"Very good. Now come at her from the back."   
  
Tai straightened, gritting his teeth. "Must I?" he whined. Saali smirked. Reni was grinning his head off.  
  
"You must," Sir informed him, and Saali could tell he was enjoying seeing his least favorite underling injured.   
  
Tai rushed at her from the back, pinning both her arms in a surprisingly strong hold. Saali rather liked the closeness of his body to hers, even in such a strange situation, and his heat was welcome. But she was also ready for him; she jumped and kicked back, her heel colliding with his kneecap as the other one found his instep. When his hold loosened just a bit, she used the extra freedom to slam her torso into his. The man gave a whimper and released her.  
  
"The front," Sir commanded briskly, and Tai glared at him. Limping slightly, her friend jumped forward and seized her upper arms.  
  
Automatically, Saali did the easiest thing, which was to knee him in a particularly painful spot.  
  
Poor Tai gave a sort of a drawn-out squeak before falling to his knees, keeling over and curling up into a ball, emitting little pain-noises.  
  
Reni keeled over, as well, but that was with compressed hysterical laughter.   
  
Saali gave a cry and rushed forward to kneel at his side. "Tai! I am sorry, I did not mean - it was just a reflex, that is all, just a reflex, I am so sorry, I did not really mean to hurt you -"   
  
Sir had only just a bit of an evil smile as he interrupted. "You never apologize to your opponent. It is sensitivity that will lose the battle," he felt it his duty to tell her.   
  
Some of Tai's squeaks formed words. "That - is not fair - I cannot do - that to her -" He broke off and began to writhe around in little circles on the ground.   
  
"I am SO sorry!" Saali cried. "I did not mean - "  
  
"Oh, stop already," Sir said with some irritation.  
  
Reni was a shaking heap on the stone floor.   
  
All of a sudden, however, he sat up with a cry, and it soon became apparent why.   
  
A horrible sound penetrated the walls of the cave, vibrating and echoing within the stone so that the fearsome screech filled every ear and buzzed through every bone in the camp. Tai sat up, letting out only a whimper. Sir froze and looked up at the ceiling. The men in the camp, who had all begun their morning exercises, halted in their tracks at once. The sound made Saali's teeth ache fiercely, and filled her with a chill like she had never felt before, one that clenched her stomach and made her cry out and drop to her knees. Accompanying the sound was a pulsing throb of whooshing air, like the beating of giant wings.   
  
Sir broke the trance and turned to them with a great effort. "Stay here," he almost whispered, even more hoarsely than usual, and began to walk slowly and hesitantly up the tunnel.  
  
"What - what is that?" Saali stammered. The screech had subsided, but she could still feel the chill presence of the thing in her bones.   
  
Reni shuddered, looking at the ground. Tai replied, voice strained and a bit higher than usual, "One of the Faceless Ones, I would bet my life on it. Come to have a little chat with Sir."  
  
Saali was curious. She was strangely drawn to go and look at the thing, if only to find out what a Faceless One was. After a moments' hesitation, she let impulse take her and stood shakily, beginning to climb up the steep stone slope, and very much enjoying the alliterations that went along with it.   
  
"You are crazy. I am not coming," Tai called from behind her, but she continued to climb. Her hands and feet slipped on the slimy, jagged rock; she trembled all over, but she had to see this thing, whatever it was.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	11. In Which Saali Realizes Missions Are Har...

Many apologies for taking so long in getting this up - my computer hates me and therefore I this is my THIRD time typing the beginning of this chapter, because it likes to randomly erase things for no reason... for no reason is redundant with ... or is it redundant to... or is it neither... Steelsheen is out of it.   
  
Steelsheen is also happy because she got tons o' reviews for the last chappie, which is a big improvement. ^_^ Yay for me newbies, Katharwen, Iona, Lurker, and Lightning Rain! And yay also for my old-bies, Isis & Cally! And yay also for my supposed-to-have-been sister, Krystyna! ^_^  
  
All right, now to reply to everyone... Cally, yeah, I hate author's notes too. :P I'll do the asterisk thing next time. Katharwen, I don't really remember meeting you anywhere... but i'm so glad you like the cultural thingie. They're not evil. *huggles Haradrim* Iona, glad you likes it. Isis - you guessed it. Lurker... uh, actually, a mumak is a really big elephant. :P Glad you like it. Lightning Rain - I lurves my cliffies. And Krystyna - yeah.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Chapter Eleven: In Which Saali Discovers Missions Are Hard  
  
**Saali's braided head emerged above the ground through the little hole where Sir had pushed aside the rock just enough to climb through. The frigid wind whipped at her hair and stung her cheeks and ears, but there was another cold, a strange cold that throbbed in her bones and filled her head with unpleasant thoughts, and made it hard for her to keep her balance on the jagged jutting-out pieces of slimy rock she stood on.   
  
Sir stood a little ways away, hunched over like an old woman. His knees trembled, and his head was bowed in what looked like submission. This gave Saali a start.  
  
Standing before the captain was something the likes of which Saali had never seen before, even in her dreams. But if she had, the dreams would have turned to nightmares. It had the shape of a man, only taller and thinner than it was naturally possible to be, and its form was entirely shrouded in tattered black robes. In one thing that might have been a hand, although it too was hidden by the morbid tatters, it held a long, jagged-edged sword with a sickly white glow. In the other, it held the reins of a huge beast. Saali thought it looked rather like a bird, only oversized, and lacking in feathers, and with teeth. Big teeth.   
  
But what frightened Saali the most was that, in the hole of the thing's black hood where a face ought to have been, there was nothing. The thing was faceless.  
  
_Fate save us, it is a demon in the flesh, _Saali thought with a sharp intake of breath, which she regretted, for the cold air hurt her lungs.   
  
The Faceless One spoke. Its voice was not a voice. It was more like hissing breath somehow solidified to form words. The last time I spoke with you, Captain, you assured me that your troops would capture Ithilien for Mordor as soon as you acquired more men. You now have more men, and the Garden rests still in Gondor's hands.  
  
Sir opened his mouth and let out a sort of a squeak, then a cough. He breathed something in Haradic that Saali didn't quite catch, then said, We just come yesterday. We get it for you soon, my lord. The Common words sounded strange and halting coming from his mouth.  
  
Soon is not good enough, hissed the Faceless One. My master is not patient. His ri- The thing cut itself off then, and Saali wondered why for a moment, but it corrected itself quickly. Events have occurred that spur us to capture as much land as possible NOW, while we are still able. We need the Garden immediately.  
  
Yes. We get it for you, Sir assured the thing, voice trembling slightly.  
  
You had better, said the thing, and for a moment the very air about them seemed to freeze.   
  
Sir, through some sudden surge of courage, managed to speak up. Maybe if you master send orcs or someone, we capture more easily, my lord. We have still not enough soldier now, not to fight all Rangers at once.  
  
The thing gave a shriek of anger, and Saali cringed violently. My master does not take advice from underlings! You shall take Ithilien NOW, impudent one, and I care not if you have two soldiers and a drummer-boy to your name! And with that, the Faceless One swung aboard his oversized bird and rose into the air with a whooshing of wings that caused the trees in the area to blow nearly in half.   
  
And then came the screech again, and it hurt Saali so much now that she was so near to the thing and unprotected by the cave walls that she let go of the edge of the tunnel and doubled over. This was a mistake, and she lost her balance and began to fall backwards with a scream. She grabbed onto the rock's edge just in time, as the screech subsided.  
  
Sir, now standing up again after falling to his knees, heard Saali's scream and ran over to the hole. You! I told you to stay down there, you sneaky... You are no good if you spy on your own side! Now get back down there! That is an order!  
  
Saali nodded shakily, and the two made their stumbling way down the tunnel, falling down every few feet but not caring. The Faceless One had taken his toll on them both.   
  
When they finally tripped out into the torchlight of the cave, Kentai and Emreni waited for them by the tunnel-mouth. Saali nearly collapsed again, and Reni caught her by the arm and steadied her. Easy there, whoa! Tai grinned. Have fun?  
  
Saali and Sir both glared daggers at him.   
  
Tasaali. Never, ever put yourself in a position to anger one of them, do you understand? They have great powers, and their swords can turn you into one of them, Sir said earnestly. Rest for today, and think on not being nosy, he rasped, then stalked off toward his tent.   
  
So many questions swam in Saali's head, but the shadow of the Faceless One overwhelmed them all, and she allowed Tai to take her other arm and help her to their tent.  
  
The three sat in a circle on the floor of the tent. Think I am supposed to be out doing push-ups with the rest of them, Tai mused, not seeming to care. Oh well.  
  
Saali smiled ever so slightly before leaning back and letting her head hit her pillow.  
  
After a few minutes, the room had stopped spinning , and she saw colors again as brightly as they should be. She sat up.   
  
Tai was chewing absent-mindedly at a particularly tough piece of jerky.   
  
What was that thing? Her voice was quiet.  
  
The Faceless Ones... They are something, all right, Tai replied, thoughtfully biting off a piece of meat. Some say they are demons. I am fairly sure they are right, too.  
  
Reni nodded, his face troubled.  
  
It was so cold, Saali murmured. After a moment, she asked, Is it really possible that they are on our side?  
  
More like we are on their side, Tai said with a sheepish grin. We are fighting for Mordor, for Fate knows what reason. They wish to conquer Gondor.  
  
Reni frowned and scribbled something on his pad of paper: FOR THE MOMENT.  
  
Tai agreed. Until they have conquered it already, and there is some new land to try for.  
  
But that thing. Saali was still fighting to understand their alliance with Mordor. It was... _evil._  
  
Tai said simply. They are all evil - the Faceless Ones, the Orcs. Their master is more evil than all of them, though.   
  
Saali frowned and stared at the floor.   
  
Some say they have already conquered Harad, just by making us join with them, Tai commented, his eternal grin nearly gone.  
  
They burned the Burnt District, did they not? Saali demanded with a sudden ferocity.  
  
Tai and Reni nodded somberly.   
  
The ferocity left her, and a sadness took its place. They want us to capture Ithilien immediately, she mumbled. Sir said he would.  
  
I would not mind owning this place. It is rather nice, actually, Tai mused.  
  
For Mordor, Saali corrected him. We will capture it for Mordor.  
  
SO THE ORCS CAN DESPOIL IT. Reni looked angry.  
  
There was a long moment during which they all stared at their feet, and then another during which they all stared at someone else's feet. _Tai's boots are awfully scruffy, _thought Saali.  
  
Well, the _tarks _deserve what is coming to them. Tai broke the silence defiantly.   
  
Saali nodded. They killed her father and her husband; they left her a widow. She wanted revenge. _Yes. Think of that, and not of that faceless thing ordering Sir around._ That was the reason she was fighting. She had a purpose in life. That was what she had wanted.  
  
But was that purpose right or wrong?  
  
Her doubts were increased further when Reni shook his head sadly and left the tent. When he believed so firmly that the war was wrong, it was hard for her to convince herself it was right.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saali spent the day hidden away in her tent, with her Haradic-Common dictionaries for company. At around midday, Sir brought her a hefty stack of maps of Gondor for her to study as well, and study she did, until it felt like her brain would burst from overflow of knowledge.  
  
At least that distracted her from the questions that plagued her mind.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The next morning, both she and Tai were awakened bright and early (or dark and early, since the sun had not even risen yet) by someone sticking a horn into their tent and blowing an extremely grating note.   
  
What the - Tai let out a series of words that he most certainly would not say in civil conversation. He lunged for the tent flaps, but the mysterious horn-blower was gone, which caused him to land with a loud thud half-in, half-out of the tent.  
  
Saali groaned. she mumbled as she began to pile on her five undershirts.  
  
Tai swore fluently as he dragged himself back into the tent. I do not care, I am going back to bed! he shouted, and Saali heard the rustle of sheets from behind the separating blanket as he climbed back into his bedroll.   
  
Once she was decent, she stumbled out of the tent and over to the tunnel-mouth to meet Sir, shivering.  
  
Good morning, Sir greeted her brightly.  
  
Saali bit her lip to keep from snapping at him. Kentai did not enjoy your wake-up call, she informed him as she noticed the large gold horn he held in his hand.  
  
The quicker you get used to waking up this early, the quicker I can stop doing that and the sooner he can stop not enjoying it, Sir said briskly. Now. You have studied the maps of the region, correct?  
  
Saali nodded. She knew Ithilien tip to toe, if the lines on a map made in Harad could be trusted at all.  
  
And you are somewhat comfortable with the Common Tongue, judging from the amount of studying you did yesterday.  
  
She nodded again.   
  
All right then. Sir seemed to be considering something for a moment, then nodded decisively. Due to the urgency of our current situation, which I am sure you are aware of from your snoopery yesterday, you will undertake your first mission today.  
  
Saali nearly choked. Today, sir? she squeaked.   
  
We are pressed for time, Sir said simply, not seeming very concerned by Saali's apparent fright.   
  
Er... yessir, Sir. Saali's face was blank as her eyes betrayed her true thoughts: _Is he insane?  
  
_Just then, the captain of the other regiment, a stout, balding man, approached Sir. Captain Nineyi, he said.  
  
Good morning, Captain Ylaasa, Sir replied cordially, and the two bowed. Saali tapped a foot, wondering when they would cut the casualties.  
  
Captain Ylaasa cast a scrutinizing eye over Saali. She glared back with a fierce intensity learned from Reni.  
  
Captain, I mean no disrespect, but why have you chosen _her_ for such an important job? Were there no men good enough for you? The man was very polite in his insult of Saali.  
  
The King, and no other, chose her, because she was skillful at the job, Sir replied simply, folding his arms as if challenging the man to defy him. Saali suspected he was higher-ranking than the other captain.  
  
But she is... a woman. A widow, no less, Ylaasa insisted.  
  
She is a spy and a servant of the Royal House of Harad, and you will treat her as such. If you have any more questions, I am sure she can clear it all up for you if you wish to speak with her. Sir's dark eyes glinted dangerously.  
  
The man stood silent for a moment, then nodded curtly and strode away.  
  
Saali squinted at Sir. This was one of those times when she felt immensely grateful to him, and wondered where his kindness was when it was not showing up at random.  
  
Sir cleared his throat and interrupted Saali's thoughts. Anyway. You are to locate the Rangers of Ithilien.  
  
Rangers, sir?  
  
Gondorian soldiers, the _tarks _who prowl the forest, looking for us and the orcs. But today, he added grimly, we go looking for them.   
  
Saali cleared her throat nervously. So, er... I just ... find them?  
  
Yes. You find them, then lead us to them. Look out for their scouts, though. And do try not to get yourself killed. Sir could have added Have a nice time, in the same tone, and it would have sounded perfectly normal.  
  
Saali nodded. Her doubts were overwhelmed by the thudding of her heart as it grew faster, louder, as adrenaline coursed through her veins. This was it. This was her mission, her duty... her purpose. This was what she had come for. She was useful. Her life was worth living. She was getting her wish.  
  
She bowed, spun on her heel and began to march up the steep slope.  
  
Now, to find those Rangers...  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Nineyi watched her go - so eager as she trotted away, so eager to follow orders, chasing her dreams. They always were, the ones who joined voluntarily at least. All of them had such enthusiasm, such spirit. He watched her go with weary eyes.  
  
He had been eager once. He had worked his way to the top, from private to captain, with many steps along the way. And now he was Sir, Captain Nineyi of Division Twenty-Three of the Grand Army of Harad.  
  
He had been like her once.  
  
He hoped she didn't kill herself out there.  
  
Shaking his head, he made his way back into the smattering of tents without a backward glance.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saali burst from the tunnel, nearly explosive with energy. The chill wind whipped her widow's lock away from her face and lifted her spirits with it.  
  
Now, which way to go...  
  
Tasaali, daughter of Eishali, Spy of Harad's Army, had absolutely no idea of where to start looking, so she licked a finger, stuck it in the air, and skipped off in the direction the wind blew.  
  
After a long while of skipping, however, she grew tired, and was content simply to walk through the Leaf City, marveling at the trees and the flowers and the unfamiliar scents in the air.  
  
After a long while of marveling, however, it got rather tiresome, and with the exhaustion of Saali's wonder came the realization that, one, her feet rustled loudly with every step in the leaves on the ground, and two, she had not found the Rangers.   
  
Tensing her muscles, she began to step lightly on the leaves, and darted noiselessly from behind one tree to another. She was not about to be caught by the first tark scout who came along. That would shame her to the point of death.  
  
Soon, with her own silence, came yet another realization - she was alone. Completely, totally ALONE, in enemy territory, where anyone who saw her would kill her, and there could be a person right BEHIND THAT BUSH RIGHT OVER THERE -  
  
The spy took a deep breath and calmed herself. She knew where she was. According to the map, she had been traveling west, and was now in the highlands of Ithilien, maybe two miles from the Big Rock, which was what the map named their camp.  
  
With that, she devoted herself to looking for any sign of human movement as she herself moved through the underbrush. The tarks were tricky, Tai had said, and could blend with the trees as if they were plants themselves. Her dark eyes darted coolly back and forth, her ears were tuned to any rustle in the leaves.  
  
As if on cue, there was a SNAP-rustle in the leaves overhead, and Saali spun around, drawing her sword and looking up through the branches of the trees.  
  
A fat black bird hopped out from behind a leaf and peered at her quizzically.   
  
Blushing, Saali sheathed her blade. _I should not overreact like that... _  
  
And she kept moving.  
  
After about another hour of moving, Saali began to wonder if she wasn't going in the exact opposite direction of the Ranger camp. She spun around and reversed her course. _So now I am headed east, _she thought, _back toward the Big Rock. This is not so hard...  
  
_But before long, she began to notice that the trees all looked the same to her.  
  
Coldly, evilly the same.  
  
And she had no idea where she was.   
  
And she still had not managed to find the tark camp.  
  
_Tark-magic, I would bet on it, _she thought, panicked. I bet they have hidden their camp away with spells and things, just to keep me from finding it, she mumbled out loud, then clapped a hand over her mouth.   
  
Then an idea hit her with the force of an arrow.   
  
Clearing her throat, she called the Common words to mind. she bellowed. I AM LOOOOOSSSST! It was one of those phrases that everyone learned, because it was too useful not to learn.   
  
When there was no response from the forest, she tried again. HEEELLLOOO OUT THEEEEERE! HELLLLP! I AM LOOOOSSSST!   
  
With all her mind bent on listening to every noise, she heard the crunch of leaves not far off. Suddenly it occurred to her that she had not planned this part. Looking around desperately for a hiding spot, her eyes fell on the nearest tree, which had a branch just conveniently low enough to the ground for her to get a foot on it. She did so, and grabbed the branch above, and with much slipping and scraping her knees and arms on the bark of the tree, she managed to get herself up to somewhere near the top. She knelt in the crook of a branch and hugged the trunk to keep from falling.   
  
A few seconds after she had settled herself, she heard an unfamiliar voice call back in Common, Hello? Who are you? She did not answer, and hugged the tree in a stranglehold as her breathing involuntarily grew quicker.   
  
The voice repeated, Who are you? Where are you? And then two men pushed aside tree branches and shrubbery and emerged directly under Saali's tree, swords drawn, moving warily.  
  
They were the first Gondorians Saali had ever lain eyes on, and she forgot her fear for a moment and leaned over to get a better look. They were tall, with dark hair that fell only to mid-neck, and blew freely in the wind. And they were pale, paler than anyone Saali had ever seen. At first glance, Saali thought they looked deadly ill, but then she saw the color in their cheeks. They were strange creatures, Saali thought, strange and beautiful... or maybe just strange. They looked as sorcerers should.   
  
They dressed all in green and brown like the forest, and wore cloths tied around the lower halves of their faces. Camouflage, Saali realized, and then wondered why the Haradrim had not thought of it.   
  
The man nearer to the tree called out again, Saali gasped, having been drawn from her trance, and drew back into the crook of the branch. Apparently, the gasp drew the man's attention, and he tilted back his head and peered up into the leaves, his strange gray eyes glinting in the midday sun.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	12. Of Battle and Spilt Blood

WE FISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS! And, if you are actually reading this on December 25th, which is unlikely, a happy seventh day of Hanukkah! My present to all my wonderful reviewers, although it wasn't technically possible to gift-wrap. ^_^  
  
Just saw ROTK for the second time. Will not spoil... will not spoil... all I'll say is damn, I love that movie to tiny tiny pieces.   
  
A big thank you to Isis, and my loverly newbies, BoromirDefender and Ashes Kittyhawk!  
  
And Diz - if there was any way I could possibly fit hobbit slash into the story, I would do it, just for you. :P PIPPINXMERRY!   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Chapter Twelve: Of Battle and Spilt Blood  
  
**Saali's entire body tensed, and she clutched at the tree, pressing her head against the rough bark and closing her eyes. _I am not here... you do not see me... go AWAY...  
  
_She did not see the Ranger scan the leaves with his piercing gray eyes, and she did not see him as he turned those eyes away from her tree and back to his companion. She did, however, hear him say "Nothing here," and she could have cried with relief.   
  
"I know I heard something," his companion insisted stubbornly. "Check the rest of the trees. I will check the ground."  
  
Grumbling, the first man did as he was told, and slowly. Saali's whole body had begun to ache from keeping herself balanced on her branch.   
  
They did not, of course, find anything, and they met up again, scowling. "Someone was shouting for help," said Ranger Number One, and Ranger Number Two replied, "Perhaps it was just the wind."  
  
"I know what I heard," One asserted, although he sounded less sure than his words made him out to be.  
  
"Trick of the Enemy," growled Two, and kicked a rock. Saali felt it bounce off the tree trunk. "Let us leave this trap," Two added, and Saali heard his booted footsteps receding into the woods beyond.   
  
There was a short pause before One followed. Saali listened until she could just barely hear their feet crush the leaves on the ground. Then she slid down off her branch and descended, slowly but surely, to the ground. She paused a moment to gather her nerves, then crept off after the two men, silent as the grave. It was actually rather funny how she had tricked them, she realized, and gave a tiny _whuff _of laughter before she could restrain herself.  
  
She followed their grayish-green-cloaked backs for what seemed an eternity, without their noticing her footsteps even once. But then she stepped on a fallen branch, and SNAP -   
  
One whirled around, eyes darting left and right. Saali bit her tongue to keep from crying out and ducked behind a nearby bush. She could just barely see the top of his head, moving left and right. _Not now... not after all this...  
  
_But One, true to form thus far, turned around, discouraged, and continued on. Saali let out a shuddering breath and stood up with shaky knees. _You can do this. You WILL do this.  
  
_Creeping silently after One once more, she saw his back, then his head disappear suddenly as he descended, presumably, a steep ridge. Cautiously, she tiptoed up to the edge, slinking behind a tree like a fox and peering out from behind the trunk with wide eyes.   
  
_Yes.  
  
_There, in the valley below, were many more Rangers, all of them looking somewhat like One and Two to Saali's untrained eyes. Ragtag tents were haphazardly pitched amongst the leaves on the ground, and Saali thought they must not intend to stay there long. She watched, still somewhat in shock that her idea had worked, as One and Two wove their ways through the smattering of tents, talking nervously with the other men.   
  
_Well.  
  
I did it.   
  
_With that thought, Saali spun on her heel and tiptoed away. _Now, I was going east, then I turned a bit north... so I should go... this way?  
  
_She nodded, agreeing with herself, and began to head in the direction she had chosen. She supposed once she returned to camp, she would lead Sir and that Ylaasa man and the troops to the Ranger camp, and they would set upon it like wildcats upon a kill. She shuddered at that image and tried to block it out of her mind.  
  
It soon became apparent that Saali was still lost. She was not finding the Big Rock, and the weak Northern sun was getting low in the west. All sorts of woodland noises were all around her now, unfamiliar noises coming from strange animals. She swallowed heavily and tried to calm herself.  
  
It didn't work. She began to run, jogging at first, eyes darting nervously left and right, then sprinting, tripping on rocks, leaping over shrubbery and low-slung branches, tearing through the underbrush like a tornado. _Have to get back... do not have food... cannot sleep out here, for certain... have to get BACK...  
  
_It was this panicked state of mind that caused her to slam headlong into something and collapse on the forest floor with a little shriek.  
  
The something sighed heavily and pulled her to her feet rather rudely. Somehow, through her dizziness and lack of breath, she saw that it was a Haradic soldier, one she did not know. She could have fainted right there with gratitude, and due to the fact that her heart was pounding so hard her whole body shook.   
  
The soldier spoke one word: "Come." He turned and began to march off, and Saali stumbled dizzily after him, mumbling thank-you's.   
  
Somehow, the soldier got her back to the Big Rock, down through the tunnel, and into the caves, where Sir was waiting near the cave-mouth.  
  
"So?" was all he said. He looked rather irritated, as if he had been waiting for quite a while.  
  
Saali remembered and swelled with pride. "I found them," she announced.  
  
"Good," Sir said curtly, without so much as a word of thanks. He then blew two piercing notes on his gold horn, and the whole camp sprang into action.   
  
Before long, there were two full companies of soldiers waiting by the tunnel-mouth, and Reni, the other regiment's mumak-man, and their mumaks waiting by a large mumak-sized side door.   
  
"We march," Captain Ylaasa shouted, and that was all that was necessary.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"I am going to ask you one more time, Tasaali," said Sir with strained patience. "Do you know where the Rangers' camp is?"  
  
Saali was miserable. They had been marching, then walking, then stumbling about and complaining about the cold, for at least an hour and a half, and still she could not seem to find the _tark _camp. _And if there are any Rangers within two miles, they will hear these mumaks for certain, _she thought pessimistically, glancing at the huge beasts lumbering through the brush with much cracking and rustling.   
  
"Are you listening to me, Tasaali?" Sir barked. "Answer me!"  
  
"I told you," Saali said stiffly, her face a rigid mask of calm. "I found it. I just need to find it again."  
  
"You did not even mark your trail, or anything to that effect?" Sir snapped.   
  
"I did not think to," Saali mumbled. _So much for hero of the army.  
  
_Sir growled deep in his throat. Someone shouted something that sounded very rude. The mumaks trampled a log, which crunched unpleasantly. Some animal of Ithilien chittered in the gathering dusk of the tree branches.  
  
A few strange bird-calls pierced the air, but Saali paid them no more heed than any of the other noises.   
  
Cursing and muttering preceded Kentai as he shoved his way through the ranks. "Saali? Are we there yet?" he grinned. "We sure have been marching a long -"  
  
"Do not even start," she hissed at her friend. She could not tolerate his excess cheer at a time like this.   
  
"Hey, I did not mean it that way," Tai said more quietly. "I just think we might want to call it a day..."  
  
Sir glared at him. "We shall call it a day when -"  
  
But he was interrupted by a scream of pain from somewhere on the edges of the ranks. There was an outcry and a hubbub as all the soldiers whirled around to see what happened. A man, clutching at an arrow that protruded from his shoulder, keeled over, and then all chaos broke loose.  
  
A rain of arrows erupted from the trees, bouncing off helmets and mail and thudding as they sank into the flesh they were seeking. There was an ear-shattering ring of metal as swords were drawn. Saali whipped out her own sword and shoved her father's helm onto her head, whirling around frantically, trying to find some enemy she could fight in the utter confusion of men running, yelling, dropping to the ground.   
  
"GET OUT OF RANGE!" Sir roared, and Saali now saw the use of his rough voice, as it carried easily over the screams and shouts. Most of the men were already doing so, but those who were not ran, yelling and shouting just for the sake of yelling and shouting. Saali found herself screaming nonsense, just to get the fear out.  
  
Somehow, the soldiers regrouped in a clearing not far away. The arrows the Rangers shot now hit the ground harmlessly just a few inches from where they stood. The mumaks reared, trumpeting in terror, and Saali caught a brief flash of Reni, stroking one's trunk, trying to calm it down.  
  
Sir took control. "YLAASA! STAY WITH THESE MEN! MUMAK-MEN, HOLD THEM, DAMN IT! ARCHERS, TO ME! TO ME!"  
  
Various soldiers shoved through the crowd, bending bows and seizing arrows from quivers. Following Sir, they charged back into the fray, shooting at the trees and hoping for a lucky shot. Rangers dropped from the branches, hitting the ground with loud thumps. A few Haradic archers hit the ground as well. Saali cringed as her stomach clenched, wiping panic-sweat from her brow.  
  
That was when the foot-soldiers arrived. And there were many, pale men in green who seemed to be born from the very bushes that surrounded the remainder of the troops. Their captain, a young, tall man who seemed rather hesitant about the battle, shouted, "ATTACK!" And the men fell upon each other in a deadly chaos of slashing blades and clashing steel. Ylaasa shouted something incomprehensible; Reni let go of the mumaks and they charged, trampling Rangers and spearing them with razor-sharp metal-tipped tusks; Saali stood, too stunned and paralyzed with horror to do anything as the swinging swords around her glistened a morbid red.  
  
A Ranger approached her suddenly, raising his sword, and Saali just barely blocked his downward blow before falling to her knees. The man went in for the kill, but Saali's dark eyes met his gray, and he hesitated. Was he sparing her? But suddenly, as soon as he had torn his eyes from her face and raised his sword again, someone else's was dragged across his throat and he hit the ground with a thud, staining the leaves a deep red.  
  
Saali looked up, eyes wide, to see her savior, and Panim nodded briefly to her, then sprang away to cross swords with another Ranger.   
  
Before Saali could process that, she heard an unmistakable voice from somewhere in the symphony of screams, crying out in pain. "DIE!" it wailed. "Oh, please, I cannot -"  
  
Fire raged in her mind. _Kentai. _She charged through the mass of soldiers, slashing aimlessly with her sword, screaming something she did not understand - perhaps it was the number 127 in Common? Who knew - until she came to where Kentai stood, slumped against a tree trunk with his sword at his feet, clutching his upper arm as blood seeped out between his fingers and shone against his beautiful golden bracelets. A Ranger stood before him, sword to his throat - to her best friend's throat -  
  
Tasaali, daughter of Eishali, had never been sure she would actually be able to kill someone in battle if the time ever came. How could she simply end someone's life, perhaps an innocent person's? But now she did not think, and all she saw was the sheen of that steel blade, held to her best friend's neck, and anger seized her. And she leapt forward, slamming her sword into the man's back, impaling him.  
  
The man let out one last choking breath, dropped his sword with a clatter against Tai's, and fell, sliding off of Saali's sword and taking his final rest in the leaves underneath the great tree, whose branches swayed in the evening breeze.   
  
Saali looked at him, lying there as if sleeping, face-down with blood soaking through his gray-green cloak, and then at her sword, as his life flowed down and off the blade through the groove in the middle and dripped to the ground. And she was numb.   
  
Kentai staggered forward. "Saali," he choked hoarsely, and without thinking she threw an arm around his neck, and he clasped her shoulder with his good hand, and they clutched each other for a moment in a sort of a strange embrace, overwhelmed and wild with emotion.   
  
"Are you hurt badly?" she managed to ask as they broke their hold, though her voice cracked with the effort. His hand had left a crimson stain on the shoulder of her tunic.  
  
Tai looked at his bloodied hand strangely, as though it were someone else's. "I do not think - " he began, but was interrupted by Sir's roar: "RETREAT! RETREAT!"   
  
"Go! GO!" some soldier cried, running past them, and they looked at each other for a moment, then sprang away after him.   
  
After a moment, Tai stopped, cursed, and charged back to pick up his sword. Saali sheathed her own, and they ran together, being jostled by the tide of retreating Haradic soldiers and surrounded by indiscernible shouts. Saali had almost become used to the constant noise by then. The mumaks shook the ground as they galloped, and Saali caught sight of Reni, riding quite calmly on a tusk with the skill of experience.   
  
The men ran until their lungs threatened to implode. At first, the stragglers in the back had been forced to fight off the Rangers who had followed, but now someone shouted in an out-of-breath sort of way that they were all gone, and could they PLEASE stop now and get some rest?  
  
"YOU CAN GET SOME REST WHEN YOU ARE DEAD, NOW MOVE!" Sir made it quite clear that the man's suggestion was not appreciated.  
  
And so they ran until they came back to the Big Rock, and by that time Saali and Kentai were leaning on each other, staggering and gasping for breath. Someone heaved aside the rock, and the men poured into the cave like ants into an anthill.   
  
As Saali stopped running, the thoughts that had been nipping at the edges of her mind came back into order. She looked at Kentai, who had gone unpleasantly pale and was clutching his wounded arm with blood-soaked fingers. His breathing was harsh and ragged, and she worried for him - breathing. The man. The man she had killed. His blood on her sword - his blood in the leaves - he would breathe no more -   
  
Saali's stomach lurched. "I think I am going to be sick," she croaked.   
  
Tai's tight, pained smile mocked her. "Oh, come on. We did not run for that long -"   
  
"No, I am, I really am going to be sick," Saali spluttered, and with that she stumbled away from the group and retched violently into the bushes. _I killed him. _  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The harried-looking healer examined Kentai's arm grimly. He made a few tsk-ing noises, many throat-clearing ones, and quite a few hmmm-ing ones. Finally, Saali interrupted his drawn-out examination.   
  
"Is it... bad, sir?" she inquired nervously.  
  
"No," Kentai said before the healer could reply. "This is all an overreaction, honestly..."  
  
The healer ignored him, and gave Saali the feeling that he was used to rebellious patients. "It may be infected, but I doubt it will cause any permanent damage. I will put a salve on it, and bandage it, and you, Private, will not overuse that arm for at least a few days, is that clear?" His voice was nasal and rather irritating.  
  
Tai muttered something rude.  
  
The healer ignored him again and began to smear something oily-looking on his wound. Tai gasped and stiffened as the salve touched his flesh. As the healer continued to apply the substance, he squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth as beads of sweat flourished across his forehead. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, and, with a cry of pain, his whole body convulsed; he gave a sigh, his eyes closed and he was still.   
  
"Kentai!" Saali gasped, and terror sliced into her gut. "TAI!"  
  
"He has only fainted," the healer sighed quite calmly in his irritating voice. "Sometimes the salve hurts a bit."  
  
Relief flooded Saali's body for what seemed like the thousandth time that day, and with it came annoyance. "A bit?" she demanded incredulously.  
  
The healer finished wrapping Tai's arm, leaving it very neatly bandaged. "He will stay here until he comes to," he droned, letting her comment fly right over his head. "You had better go."  
  
She nodded, suddenly exhausted. "Thank you," she murmured, and tried not to look at the other patients in the healer's tent as she left.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
_I killed him.   
  
_Saali wished Tai would hurry up and come to, so he could make some joke and make her forget about the Ranger, about his blood that was still on her sword.  
  
She glanced almost fearfully at the sword in the corner of the tent. Its jewels gleamed mockingly at her, taunting her for being so weak, so... feminine. Such a bad soldier. Poor little Tasaali, she cannot even clean her own sword after battle, cannot even kill an enemy without throwing up...  
  
Besides, the battle was all her fault... if only she had remembered where the camp was, none of this would have happened... such a bad spy...  
  
That was the last straw. Her sword was talking to her. She needed to get out. She lurched to her feet and stumbled out of the tent, shoving aside the flaps rudely and nearly tripping on the rocks outside.  
  
She had no clear idea of where she was going, but somehow she ended up outside Sir's tent. She pulled the flap open without knocking or calling out, not thinking of protocol.  
  
Sir sat with his head in one hand, brooding. A small knife-cut traced its way across his forehead. He looked up, startled, as the widow stumbled in, and as he saw who it was, he clenched his jaw and looked at the ground.   
  
"Tasaali."  
  
Saali just stared at him for a moment. She had let him down hard. Everyone would doubt his judgment on everything now, and it was all because of one bloody loss and her lack of a marked trail.   
  
"I -" She cleared her throat. "I am sorry, sir."  
  
He raised his eyes to meet hers, and she saw the feeling in them - he wanted to forgive her, but he would not let himself. She saw his fatigue, and his pain at the loss. Her throat constricted, and she spun on her heel and fled the tent before he could say anything.   
  
Calls of "Tasaali!" followed her, but she did not look back.  
  
_I killed him.   
  
_War was so different than she had expected. She had expected some sort of order, something more than two teaspoons of strategy mixed with a pound of chance. She had dreamed up heroics, of a mood of accomplishment after battle, not this, this melancholy tension that dominated the camp. She had never imagined the blood. Always the idealistic teamwork came to mind, always the feeling of striving for a greater goal - never the death, never the killing. Never his blood on her sword.  
  
She almost tripped over Reni's foot - she had made her way to the part of the cave where the mumaks lazed, some still with blood caked on their metal-plated tusks. Her silent friend looked up at her questioningly.  
  
She sighed and dropped to her knees as she took in the scene. Reni knelt by the side of a mumak that lay sprawled out on the ground. Its great leathery sides were barely moving, its legs riddled with green-fletched arrows. A great sword-slash stretched across its chest.   
  
"It is... dying?" she asked timidly, and Reni nodded grimly. He looked the great beast over, and his eyes were sorrowful. And Saali remembered that the mumaks were all he had, and she pitied him.   
  
Reni looked at her with a sudden fury in his eyes and clenched teeth.  
  
"Cursed tarks," she agreed. She stretched her legs out in front of her and was quiet for just a minute, and the only sound was the rasping breath of the dying mumak. Reni sat motionless, almost meditative in his silent deathbed vigil, and suddenly Saali realized they were surrounded by death, and she was at peace with it. But just for a moment.  
  
"I killed him," she said softly, and Reni looked at her calmly. "I ended his life - I never thought it would hurt so much, to kill. But it does. And I do not know why. He was the enemy, right? I was supposed to kill him. We are all supposed to. But even that seems wrong. And I do not know why. I do not know anything. It was all my fault, you know that? I was supposed to lead us to them, and I could not even do that. And then... him. His blood. I cannot forget it." Her voice grew louder as she talked, and she ached with the tears she would not release.  
  
Reni was a good person to talk to, as all he did was listen. And as she stopped rambling, he took her hand and held it in his in a firm grasp, and looked at her with a strength in his eyes that steadied her like a lifeboat to a drowning person. And with that calm, she let her thoughts drift away, and the tears that throbbed in her throat disappeared like morning mist, and she gripped his hand back, and together they sat by the side of the mumak as it let loose its last breath.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_  
_  
  



	13. Aftermath

Whee! I got a lot of reviews for the last chapter! Let me see... Lightning Rain, Thiliaen, Nienna of Sorrow and Katharwen - mucho thanks! Queen Isis - a special thank you to you, since I do believe you've reviewed every chapter since you started reading... you rock my socks! Nerwen Calaelen - yeah, technical stuff. :P No, I don't have an explanation, except maybe they wore very soft shoes. ^^ Thanks for the criticism, it is appreciated. Emilie - No, not really. Must have accidentally put Sauron in as one of the characters... *goes to fix that*  
  
A note: Chapters may come a bit slower from now on, since I'm working on a bit of original fantasy that I have an unrealistic dream of getting published. :P Sorry for the delay.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Chapter Thirteen: Aftermath (The Unlucky Chapter)  
  
**It took twenty men working together to carry the corpse of the mumak out of the cave. What should be done with it was debated - a suitable funeral would be to burn it, but that would raise a lot of smoke, and now the Rangers had some idea of where the camp was. But digging a grave would take too much time and effort. Finally, it was decided that it would be hauled as far as possible away from the camp and covered in leaves, and left there.  
  
Reni was furious when he heard their decision. NO HONOR, he wrote, making deep indents in the paper with his pen. NO HONOR AT ALL.   
  
So Kentai, nursing his injured arm in a sling, and Saali, who had put the death of the Ranger out of mind momentarily, accompanied the twenty men as they dragged the corpse through the Leaf City. And before the corpse was covered, ignoring the glares from the soldiers who would much rather pile up the leaves and be done with it, they said a funeral prayer for the beast, speaking for their friend who would not.  
  
"Ji ne s'elesh hi daka faheeli k'dolo ele kilasi," murmured Tai, almost somber: May your soul not go to the Punishment Realms.   
  
"Ji s'elesh hi daka ziraashi k'dolo ele kilasi," replied Saali, altogether somber: May your soul go to the Realms of Eternal Bliss.   
  
"Done yet?" someone yelled rudely. And they were, so the two turned and began making their way back to camp.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saali had taken to stalking about the camp, listening to whatever snatches of conversation she could hear. There was so much going on - so much that one would never know about if one didn't do some eavesdropping. Besides, she was as silent as a cat on her feet. No one would catch her.  
  
Creeping up beside Sir's tent, she touched an ear lightly to the fabric. She had seen Captain Ylaasa enter only a few minutes before; this was sure to be interesting.  
  
Ylaasa's voice: "...many did we lose?"  
  
Sir's, in reply: "Fifteen dead altogether, many more wounded. We were lucky it was not more. Cursed tarks."  
  
"If I may be so bold, sir, I believe none of this would have happened if your spy had not led us into it." Saali cringed.  
  
Sir paused before answering. "It was her first mission. She will learn, Captain."  
  
"You never know, sir. I would be very cautious with her if I were you. Very often, they become double agents while still inexperienced -"  
  
Sir's voice was steely as he interrupted. "I have no doubts whatsoever about her loyalty, Captain Ylaasa." Saali had another of those thankful moments.  
  
"It does happen, though, sir, and you should not ignore it. And she _is_ a woman. Her loyalties may stray." The young widow had the urge to rush in and strangle Ylaasa.  
  
"If you have any qualms with her, Captain, I highly recommend you bring them up with her yourself." Sir's voice was as cold as it ever got.  
  
Ylaasa gave a small noise, one that Saali suspected meant Sir had won. And then there was the rustling sound of someone standing up, and Saali scurried off.  
  
A double agent! How dare he suggest she was disloyal! No one trusted her, just because her body happened to be different from theirs? What kind of a reason was that not to trust someone?  
  
Saali clenched her fists and halfway-listened to an uninteresting conversation some guards were having about some stolen rations. She was a GOOD spy. They did not see her, nor did they hear her breathing heavily with anger. He could not question that.   
  
She would show them. She would show all of them.   
  
But from that point on, all she could hear in her wanderings were accusations, mistrust, doubt, in her and in Sir and in the army. She heard other conversations, but could not repeat them afterward, for all she paid attention to was the need for her to redeem herself.   
  
"... led us into a trap, she did, an ambush..."  
  
"...never should have trusted her..."  
  
"... Sir crazy? She is a..."  
  
"... a widow, Fate curse it, she will..."  
  
"... do not speak to her, you will..."  
  
"... pointless, we will never beat the Rangers, they are too skilled..."  
  
"...should fight us in the desert, then we would show them..."  
  
Their voices filled her head, but instead of bringing her down, they lit a fire in her mind. All she needed was doubt and disappointment to motivate her more than any words of praise ever could. That was how it had worked when she was a child, and it was how it worked still.   
  
_Her father's disapproving gaze as she collapsed, exhausted - a new strength in her muscles. She pulled herself up again -   
  
_The young widow's breath caught in her throat, and suddenly she turned and sprinted off toward Panim's tent.  
  
She saw his shadow move against the candlelight through the tent fabric. "May I come in?" she called once she had stopped panting.   
  
"She may," came Panim's gloomy drawl, and she entered.  
  
At the sight of him, Saali stopped in her tracks, remembering the Ranger he had killed for her. Perhaps she would have died? Perhaps not. But he had probably saved her life. "I - er... you saved me, during the battle," she blurted.  
  
Panim raised his eyebrows. "I beg y- her pardon?"  
  
Saali's brow furrowed of its own accord. "You... that Ranger would have killed me, if you had not got to him first."  
  
Panim sighed. "I suppose so. And...?"  
  
Saali was altogether awkward by now. "And... thank you. For saving me?"  
  
Panim's big dark eyes avoided hers. "She may have the wrong impression of what I intended to do. After all, one is supposed to kill the enemy in battle, regardless of whether or not it saves the life of a lady... or anyone, for that matter, I mean, it might have been anyone." It was the first time her tutor had sounded less than smooth.   
  
"But you did. Save me, I mean. And... thank you," Saali said haltingly.  
  
Panim gave a sniff and looked at the wall. Saali waited, and eventually he managed to say, "She is welcome. But we shall all die eventually, so she has no need to thank me for keeping her alive that much longer..." he added with his typical optimism, still sounding uncomfortable.   
  
A small smile played on Saali's lips, and she had the devious urge to say something else about it, just to keep him looking so awkward. But then she remembered why she had come. "I want to learn," she said, determination in her voice. "I want to learn everything. And I want to learn it now."  
  
Panim shed his awkwardness like a cloak, replacing it with a superior half-smile. "She is certainly ambitious, for such a beginner. And the Common Tongue takes some time to master."  
  
"Teach me," Saali urged, and for the rest of the afternoon they forgot their wariness of each other - man and woman, Fate-worshipper and widow, peasant and noble - as they delved into the Haradic-Common dictionaries. Although he still referred to her as "she".  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"He runs, she runs, they run, you all run, you run, I run," Saali recited in Common. She was shedding her accent fast, she thought, and was proud of this improvement and hungry for more.  
  
Panim gave a small nod, which was his way of saying she had done very well. "She is -"  
  
He froze, mid-sentence, as the tent flap opened and Anrami's head appeared in the doorway. His squinty eyes widened for just a moment, then darted from Panim to Saali and back again.  
  
"What," said Anrami slowly, voice venomous, "is going on here?"  
  
Panim seemed unable to answer, so Saali spoke up. "Since when is it the custom not to call in before entering?"  
  
Anrami glared daggers at her, almost literally, for his eyes hurt hers. "Panim?"  
  
Panim cleared his throat and cast his liquid gaze on the Haradic-Common dictionary on the floor. "I am her tutor. Sir ordered me to be, since I speak the Common Tongue the most fluently." He sounded almost ashamed, and Saali wanted to slap him.   
  
"You have been associating," Anrami snarled, "with _her._"   
  
"Only indirectly," Panim mumbled, and Saali wanted even more to slap him. He raised gloomy dark eyes to meet his cohort's and added, "We shall all die eventually. Why should it matter if I wish to speed up the process a bit?"  
  
Anrami was spitting mad now. "I, for one, do NOT want to die any sooner than I have to!" he hissed. "And you are not going to do that to me! Understand?"  
  
Panim looked at his boots.  
  
"He _has_ been calling me 'she'," Saali mumbled. "Not really speaking to me." She felt she should help her tutor, but in doing so she felt as if she betrayed herself. A tight knot settled itself in the pit of her stomach.   
  
Anrami glanced at Saali for just a moment. "She is a traitor," he spat. "Leading us into an ambush. Inexperienced, foolish woman. She has no business here. _Widow._" He forced the word out as if it poisoned his tongue.  
  
The poisonous word cut Saali deeper than the swords of battle had cut Tai's arm. "I may be inexperienced," she snapped, her voice icy. "And I may be foolish. But my sex and my status have nothing to do with it. And I am most certainly NOT a traitor."   
  
Panim kept staring at his boots, a pinched expression on his long face.  
  
Anrami seemed about to answer back, but he caught his tongue and turned his squinty eyes on the noble. "And what have you to say to that, my _friend_?" The way he said "friend", it sounded nothing at all like a blessing.  
  
Panim raised those big eyes as slowly as possible. "You are right," he said slowly, and Saali's insides turned to ice. "She has no place among men, where Fate's curse could spread." He bit his lip and avoided his student's hurt eyes.   
  
Saali bit her own lip, fiercely, to keep the tears in their place. She would not give these imbeciles the pleasure of watching her break down - like a woman. A weak, feminine woman - such a bad soldier - such a bad spy - _no place among men _-  
  
She stood jerkily and shoved Anrami's arm aside as she marched from the tent. Let them think what they would of her. She would not show them how she felt. It had always worked that way.  
  
Brown-eyes, she noticed through the distortions in her eyes, had stood behind Anrami, hearing everything. He turned his head now, and his light eyes met her dark ones for one second, before he averted them. Was that pity in the midst of that pretty brown color, or was her emotion affecting her vision...?  
  
It couldn't be. They were all the same. All hating her for what they didn't know, not wanting to look any further than her status.   
  
"You dare to touch me, woman?" Anrami bellowed from behind her. Saali's fists involuntarily clenched, her teeth clacked together. Too much. It was too much.   
  
"Yes, actually, I do," she replied, her voice as chilly as the air around them.  
  
Infuriated, Anrami took a step toward her, but he was interrupted by a big hand on his shoulder and a familiar cheerful voice. "Having a problem, Private Anrami?" Kentai chirped.  
  
"Out of my way, traitor," Anrami snapped. Light brown eyes widened behind him in a face full of doubt.  
  
"Not if you intend to go anywhere near her," Kentai refused politely. With a smile.  
  
Anrami's lips curled in a smirk. "We all know what she does for you," he whispered, relishing every word like a delicate piece of cake. "I will not make that impossible. Do not worry."  
  
Of all the things in the world he could have said to insult her, Saali was the least prepared for this. She gave a little noise, part gasp of astonishment and part cry of protest.  
  
Tai's smile did not budge an inch, but his hand did - from resting on the man's shoulder to grasping the fabric at his throat. "Is this truly what you idiots assume?" he asked lightly, as if he were talking about the weather.  
  
Anrami's smirk grew wider, though his wary eyes were on Tai's hand. "What else are we to assume you use her for?"  
  
Saali's eyes widened and her throat constricted. Her fingernails were digging into the flesh of her palm and her teeth hurt from grinding them and flames coursed through her blood and heated her mind, and she wanted to scream, and suddenly she snapped.  
  
She took just a few steps forward, and the next thing she knew Anrami was kneeling on the ground, clutching his cheek; her hand stung from the blow.   
  
The man leapt to his feet with a roar, lunged for her, but before he could reach her Kentai stopped him with a nice fist to the jaw. Anrami grabbed hold of Tai's injured arm and twisted it. And before Saali could fully comprehend what she had done, the two men were upon each other, shoving, punching, and Panim was out of the tent and on them as well, and shouts went up throughout the camp, and men ran over to join in, and before you could say Fate's name thrice it was an all-out brawl.  
  
Men tried to pull each other off other men, got punched, and joined in, some joined just for the fun of it, and Saali was caught in a mass of jostling bodies and swinging arms. Horrified, she began to shove through the crowd, slapping, kicking, scratching, screaming, doing whatever she could to get them out of her way. At one point she was knocked backwards into a pair of brawlers, feeling like she'd been shot in the cheek; her vision spiraled in her left eye.   
  
She looked up just in time to see Brown-eyes gasp and rush away, and then she felt the pain sear through the flesh surrounding her eye; she gritted her teeth, dropped to the ground and crawled through legs and under feet until she broke through the edge of the mass. There she lay on the dank rock, looking at the stalactites on the ceiling, panting, sweating, as the images on the left side of her vision grew fuzzy and dark and she felt her eye swelling.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
"What have you to say for yourself, Private Kentai?" Sir demanded, looking more than furious as he paced the floor of his tent.  
  
Kentai grinned recklessly. He would take the blame for Saali - she didn't need more doubts about her competency from the men, much less from Sir. "Honestly, sir?"  
  
Sir looked as if he was about to explode. "_Yes, honestly_!" he snarled.  
  
"Honestly, sir," Tai mused slowly, taking his time. Should he tell the captain about Anrami and Saali... No. Interference from "the authorities" was the last thing he needed on his reputation. "Honestly, sir, I wanted a rumble."  
  
"You wanted," Sir repeated, voice steely, "a rumble." This tone of voice from Sir, Kentai had come to know, meant more trouble than when he yelled.  
  
"Yessir, sir," Kentai affirmed. Extra laps of the cave tomorrow, perhaps, or thousands of pushups? He didn't want to think about the pushups. His arm throbbed almost unbearably. Stupid bastard, taking advantage of his injury. The soldier's grin slipped into a malicious grimace.  
  
Sir stopped his pacing, sighed deeply, unclenched his fists, and looked Tai in the eye. Leaning in close to the soldier's face, he said softly and fiercely, "There are enough doubts already, Private Kentai, about my authority as a captain, without this. Do you understand me?"  
  
Tai nodded, deciding speech would be unwise.   
  
"You, as a friend to Tasaali, I had assumed would know this. Apparently not." Sir's eyes bore into Kentai's. He continued,"You have overstepped the border, Private, you have pushed me over the edge. I have no choice but to -"  
  
"He insulted her," Tai blurted. Then he clamped his mouth shut.   
  
"Pardon?" Sir looked confused.  
  
"Anrami, sir. He insulted her honor." Tai looked at the ground awkwardly, wishing he hadn't said anything.  
  
Sir just looked at him.  
  
"I... I, er, I had to," Tai mumbled. "Defend her, I mean," he added, eyes still fixed on the ground. The grin was gone. Fate damn it, the grin was entirely gone.  
  
Sir let out a long breath. "Look at me, Private," he said at last.  
  
Tai tilted his head to meet his superior's eyes.  
  
Sir hesitated before going on. "I appreciate your intentions. But an army that fights within itself cannot fight together. I have done all that I can to defend Tasaali, with words. That is as far as it may go - words. No further, no matter what anyone says. No insult is worth that much trouble." He paused. "Do you follow me, Private Kentai?"  
  
"I follow you, sir," Kentai murmured.  
  
"I had intended to have you dishonorably discharged," Sir went on softly. Kentai sucked in a sharp breath. The captain continued, "But now I see."  
  
He stood there silent for a while, as if mulling it over. "Ten laps around the cave, sunrise, tomorrow," he decided at last.  
  
Tai nodded, awash with relief, still sweating as if winded from what Sir had said before. _Dishonorably discharged_. It sounded like a punch in the stomach.   
  
"You are dismissed," Sir announced, seating himself at the little desk by the doorway.  
  
Tai turned and lifted the flap to go, but was stopped by the voice of his superior.  
  
"Oh, and Private Kentai." Sir sounded as if he didn't know quite how to put what he was saying. "It is rather... unwise, to become too... attached to someone who serves by your side... especially in wartime."  
  
That, Kentai decided, sounded like two punches in the stomach. He felt his face heating. "May I go now, sir?" he asked stiffly.   
  
Sir nodded, and Tai got himself out of there as fast as possible, face aflame.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	14. Seeking Redemption

Hey, sorry about the delay... I've been working extra-hard... well, moderately hard... on my original story, and there are only so many hours in a day. :P  
  
Thankee greatly, Nienna of Sorrow, Satara, Esselar, BoromirDefender, Sweet A.K. and of course Queen Isis. *blushes at compliments* Esselar - tell me when your fic's up, I want to read it! And sorry, A.K., can't TELL you who the romance is gonna be with, that would RUIN it. ^_^  
  
Disclaimer: I'm a kleptomaniac and steal storylines for fun. Whee!   
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Chapter Fourteen: Seeking Redemption  
  
**Saali awoke the morning after the brawl and opened her eyes.  
  
No, actually, she opened her right eye. Her left was swollen completely shut, and when she tried to move the lids at all, her muscles screamed in agony. _Wonderful. I suppose it is a beautiful black-and-blue color as well.   
  
_Alarms went off in her head. If her eye looked as awful as it felt, Sir would know she had been involved in the fighting. She had not known what Sir had wanted with Kentai last night, and her friend had refused to tell her, and by the time she had heard him return, she was half-asleep. But she was fairly sure that whatever it was, it meant the fact that she had started the fight was still secret. Plus, if Sir saw her eye, he might take pity on her - and pity was the last thing she wanted.   
  
After slipping on her usual three undershirts, tunic, breeches and boots, Saali grabbed her headscarf and wrapped it around the top of her head so that it hung down over the top of her face, putting both her eyes in shadow, and tied it firmly at her chin. No one was going to see weakness in her, not if she could help it.   
  
The young widow slipped her head through the tent-flaps. All was dark. She peeked into Kentai's half of the tent to see if she'd awakened him, and was surprised to see her tentie wasn't there. _Oh, well, at least I did not wake him.   
  
_She picked up an already-lit lantern from where it waited outside the tent and headed off toward the tunnel-mouth, where Sir was to meet her for the first time since her disastrous first mission. He had, Saali noticed, made a point of telling her to meet him before dawn - perhaps he was as afraid of the animosity of the soldiers toward her as she was? But she wasn't afraid, she remembered belatedly. Just inclined to stay out of their way for a while.  
  
The noise of running feet stopped Saali in her tracks, and she whirled about just a bit hastily, holding the lantern up and squinting with her good eye into the dark. A lone soldier approached with a lantern of his own, bouncing up and down merrily as he ran.   
  
"Tai?" Saali called out, confused. Tai didn't seem the type for an early-morning jog to her.  
  
"Hello, princess," Tai replied cheerily, panting slightly. "Beautiful morning, is it not?"  
  
"What are you doing?" Saali questioned bluntly.  
  
"Ten laps around the cave... just as the doctor ordered," Tai informed her as he drew up beside her. Saali began to jog with him.  
  
"The doctor in question being Sir," Saali said slowly as realization dawned.   
  
Tai nodded and shrugged.  
  
"You... took the blame for me," Saali stated incredulously.  
  
Tai nodded and shrugged a second time.  
  
"You should not have done that," Saali informed him, shaking her head. All she needed now was for Tai to start resenting her. Then she'd really be happy here.  
  
"Yes, I should have," Tai said simply, grinning as usual. "You would have been out of here in two seconds if he knew it was you."  
  
Saali flinched and adjusted her makeshift headdress. "Can you... see that I have a black eye?" she asked, looking up at her friend as they ran.  
  
Tai squinted at her face, holding up his lantern. "No, not really," he said finally.  
  
Saali sighed with relief, and they trotted along in silence for a while.   
  
"You should go meet 'the doctor' now," Tai suggested, breaking the silence.  
  
"Oh. Right," Saali sighed. She looked up at Kentai. Her lack of an eye made everything look strangely two-dimensional, and the flames of the lantern danced in a peculiar way about his face. And she realized what a good friend he was. "Thank you.... so much," she mumbled, and looked down at her feet.  
  
"No problem, princess" was the cheerful reply.  
  
"But... you should not have to be doing this. Not for me," Saali insisted, feeling awful.  
  
Tai laughed dismissively. "One day or another, he is going to figure out that I like to run," he mused.  
  
Saali gave a small chuckle. That was Kentai. She stopped jogging, caught her breath, and began again to make her way toward the tunnel-mouth.  
  
When she got there, Sir was already tapping his toes impatiently. "You are late," was the lovely greeting she got from him.   
  
"Sorry about that, sir," Saali apologized without really meaning it. She tugged nervously at her headscarf and looked down guiltily. _I did it! I did it, it was me, not Tai! ME!  
  
_"Well, then, we might as well get on with it. Today you will try again to locate the Rangers. And this time you will be sure you can find them again, am I correct?" Sir said in a way that made one think he had better be correct, or else.   
  
"Yessir," Saali agreed. She could do it this time, she was sure. It was her only chance to get any respect. She knew the land, she knew their language... she could do it. She could. At least she hoped so._  
  
_When she dared to glance up, Sir was looking quizzically at the scarf. "Is your head cold, Tasaali?" he inquired, looking suspicious.  
  
"No, sir," was all she could manage, and then she could have slapped herself. _Should have said yes, you idiot!  
  
_"Then why is it wrapped in a scarf that way?" Sir said slowly. He was getting more suspicious by the moment.  
  
"I, er..." _Think of something! Quick! This is what you are supposed to be able to do... _"I thought it would be useful for, er, blending into the surrounding... foliage... on my mission, sir."   
  
"But the scarf is black," Sir pointed out the obvious. "And trees are green. Look at me, Tasaali."  
  
Saali's heart was going a mile a minute. Her stomach clenched as she forced herself to look up. Could he see her eye?  
  
"Pull back the scarf, Tasaali." Sir's hoarse voice was stern.  
  
Well, if he hadn't been able to see it before, he would sure be able to see it now, thought Saali in dismay. Gritting her teeth, she untied the scarf and let it drop to her shoulders. Then she looked at the very interesting patterns in the rock at her feet.  
  
Sir made a little hissing sound as he caught sight of the bruise. "Look at me."  
  
Saali looked dully at her captain, out of one eye at least.   
  
Sir said nothing for a much longer amount of time than anyone should ever say nothing for.   
  
"I... it was my fault, sir. It was provoked," Saali spoke up defiantly. She wanted to be pitied less than she wanted to have her hair pulled out, strand by strand.  
  
"And why did you provoke it?" Sir asked. He did not sound angry. More like tired.  
  
"I had to defend myself, sir, I could not let them walk all over me," Saali said recklessly, heart pounding.   
  
"They have been walking all over you, then," Sir murmured wearily, and Saali had the feeling he knew now who really started the fight. He sighed and added, "But you still should not have attacked anyone. That is sinking to their level, and you must never let yourself do that. And it could also be called treason."  
  
"I know I should not have hit anyone, sir, I know I should not sink to their level, I know all that, but can you not understand?" Saali had let herself go now, and she could not stop. "Do you know what it is like to live as an outcast, and to be constantly insulted, and hated, and disrespected, and never to be able to sink to the level of your enemies? I was tired of keeping myself above them, because even though it may make you the better person in the end, I was tired of being strong; it brought me no satisfaction. Every time they ignore me, every time they insult me to my face, I want to scream, but I never let myself. Do you know what it feels like, to have all those stifled screams inside you? I know it was wrong, sir, and I will not do it again, but can you not forgive me for just this once?" And with that Saali realized she was on a rant, fell silent and gasped for breath, and looked fiercely into her captain's eyes.  
  
Said eyes were filled with mixed emotions - disbelief, and anger, and sadness, and empathy, all at once. Sir sighed and looked at Saali with a troubled expression on his face.  
  
"Can you forgive me?" Saali repeated.  
  
Sir paused before saying, "Yes, Tasaali, I can forgive you. Just - NEVER do it again, do you understand me?"  
  
Saali breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly she was exhausted. "Thank you, sir. I will not do it again, I swear."  
  
Sir bit his lip, apparently deep in thought. "I assume it was not Kentai who started the fight last night, then."  
  
"No," Saali affirmed. "He just... did not want me in trouble, I suppose."  
  
"He said he was defending your honor, actually," Sir told her gently.  
  
"Really?" Saali said, surprised. "Wait... he told you what An - what the soldiers said, then." She clenched her fists just remembering Anrami's words.  
  
"Not word-for-word, no. He just said that a certain man insulted your honor, and he had to defend it." If Sir had not still looked predominately thoughtful, he might have looked amused.  
  
"Oh." Saali was, at the moment, fervently wishing Tai had said nothing at all.   
  
After a moment, Sir said quietly, "Tasaali... do not hesitate to tell me if you are being hurt."  
  
"Yessir," Saali agreed, knowing she would never tell him anything.  
  
With that, Sir glanced briskly up the tunnel. "Well, it is getting late. You may go," he dismissed her. "Oh, and ten laps around the cave tomorrow. Just to make up for Private Kentai's having to do them."  
  
Saali nodded gratefully and turned to begin the climb up the tunnel.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Captain Nineyi watched her go. At the moment, it would probably be best for him not to talk to anyone, since he felt like strangling the world.  
  
Vividly, the images came unbidden: _Bhila at her husband's burial. The Fatespeaker with the knife. The Fatespeaker taking a lock of her delicate hair in his holy hand and slicing it viciously off. Her tears, his own tears. How he had looked away, like everyone else. Bhila sobbing, calling for her brother. How their eyes had hated her. Himself talking to her, their hatred for him...  
  
_Sir shook his head vigorously, as if to force the memories out of his mind. But the questions came anyway.   
  
How could they treat his sweet sister that way?  
  
How could they treat anyone that way?   
  
He didn't know.  
  
But he understood Tasaali better than he would have liked to.  
  
And he couldn't protect her from society.  
  
He had been like her once.  
  
Sir walked slowly away from the tunnel-mouth. Kentai shouldn't have to do any more laps than he deserved.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Saali, still in shock that she had blown up at Sir that way, shoved the rock aside and emerged from the tunnel-mouth. At least she wasn't in trouble. She wondered why. Sir didn't seem like the type to let anyone get away with anything.   
  
But she knew what she had to do this time. The spy slipped a dagger out of her pocket and made a deep slash in the trunk of the nearest tree, then set off in the direction the tree was away from the Big Rock. Every few trees, she made another slash with the dagger. She would not lose her trail this time.   
  
The trilling of birds and the rhythm of walk-walk-slash, walk-walk-slash were hypnotically calming, and the young widow found herself recovering from the shock of her outburst. And to replace it came a steely determination. This was her potential redemption. She needed it. She WOULD have it.   
  
She would prove Sir right.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_  
_  
  
_  
  
_  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	15. Finding Redemption

Hello, this be Steelsheen, updating with the only thing she's written in practically forever. Many, many apologies to anyone who's been awaiting updates... I've been wrapped up in my original story and schoolwork and such. To tell you the truth, I've been really abandoning this. It frustrates me that all this is unpublishable because of its LOTR inspirations, and I am, after all, trying to get published... really, really sorry.   
  
So I've decided to wrap it up after this chapter, and leave what happens afterward to your imaginations. (Anyone who'd like to piggyback on my version of Harad is welcome, btw.)  
  
And thank you so much to all my wonderful, lovely reviewers, and to all the flamers out there who decided to skip over my story. :P**  
  
Chapter Fifteen: Finding Redemption**  
This time, Saali didn't have to bother to scream for help to find the Rangers.  
  
She was walking along and slashing at the trees, _step-step-slash, step-step-slash_, when a strange bird call startled her. She jumped and whirled about, hand grasping reflexively at her sword-hilt. She knew she'd heard that somewhere before... she had wondered a bit about what it was then... where was it...   
  
In the strange way that thoughts often do, the sound of the bird call melted in her mind into a vague, misty image of men running, screaming, arrows descending from the trees like lethal rain, and the sound of her own screams as she sprinted, gasping, for cover...  
  
Saali's breath seemed to abandon her lungs and try to choke her, and she dropped to her knees and crawled frantically into the underbrush, covering her head with her arms.  
  
_The bird calls. They are the tarks' signals to each other... oh please, do not let them see me... Fate curse it, I am dead if they have seen me...  
  
_Saali clutched her knees to her chest as panicked thoughts rattled her mind. _No. Calm down. I am a spy, I am a professional, I can handle this... breathe...  
  
_The same call sounded again, twice this time, shrill and morbid, sending Saali's heart into overdrive again. It was a sort of trill, she realized, the kind that could be made by cupping a hand over one's mouth and rolling one's tongue.  
  
And suddenly the young widow was slapped over the head with an idea that was either brave or utterly stupid.  
  
Peering through the leaves above her head, she watched the trees, and listened hard, and waited with bated breath.  
  
After just a few moments, the call sounded, and Saali jerked her head in the direction of the trill. Sharp dark eyes darted left, right - there! A flash of pale skin between the leaves in the tree just a few feet behind her, a little rustle in the branches and just a glimpse of a green-fletched arrow-tip.  
  
Gritting her teeth, not daring to breathe, Saali crawled toward the foot of the tree, slinking on all fours like a lynx and keeping well within the cover of the brush. At least, she hoped she was covered. _Oh, Fate curse it, do not look down now...  
  
_Another trill sounded as she slunk - the other Ranger was somewhere behind and to the left of her. She hoped he was somewhat gullible. Her plan hinged on him almost entirely. That is, whatever ragtag scraps of a plan she had.   
  
_Crrrrooooo! _ The one behind her trilled again. That was her cue. Saali cleared her throat (Fate damn it, her throat was dry, and it hurt), cupped her hand around her mouth and let out the best imitation of a Ranger's trill that she possibly could.  
  
_Crrrrooooo! _The sound seemed to echo far more than it should. She wasn't bad at it, she realized.  
  
Then she flinched in fear, cowered and waited.   
  
The Ranger in the tree above her was clearly confused. He gave three small chirping sounds, which were new to Saali. The trills, she was fairly sure, just meant "I am here".   
  
The other Ranger responded with two chirps and a long caw, sort of like a very human-sounding crow. Saali could barely breathe. Were they to realize her identity, they would have no problem shooting her from their comfortable seats in the trees. But her goal was to make the other Ranger think she was the one in the tree above her, and to communicate something that might possibly cause them to go away, and maybe, hopefully, even to lead her back to their camp. She forced herself to suck in a breath. The last thing she needed right now was to faint.  
  
There was a frantic-confused conversation between the two in trills and chirps and every other conceivable bird-noise a human could make. Saali put in her own every few seconds, not really knowing what she was doing, blindly conversing in a tongue foreign to her with reckless abandon. She would later remember this as one of the more exhilarating moments in her spying career.  
  
Evidently, she confused them a good amount, because the one in her tree began to climb down. Saali stifled a gasp and scrambled away from the foot of the tree, taking shelter behind another, watching as the man's soft leather boots hit the ground with a thump. He looked around with the unearthly gray eyes of the tarks, frowning.  
  
Saali crouched and waited, holding her breath again. The man's head turned ever so slightly in her direction -  
  
"Oy! Damrod!" The other Ranger came to her rescue. He swung nimbly off the his branch and dropped to the ground as he hissed these words. "What do you think you're playing at, telling me to shoot in a southeasterly direction?"  
  
So that was what Saali had said. She smiled a bit, and her nerves eased just the smallest amount.  
  
"I didn't," the man called Damrod said simply. Her leaned toward his partner and spoke in hushed tones, but Saali with her sharp ears still was able to hear. "There is something else out here. Something smart, from the looks of it, smarter than an orc. Imitating our signals, curse it." He glanced about uneasily.  
  
"Do you think there might be, er... more than one?" the other wondered, fidgeting nervously.   
  
"Oh, do not start with that." Damrod looked wearily irritated. Saali wondered if most great sorcerers behaved like they did, and why they didn't just seek her out with their spells. _Perhaps they do not have any seeking spells...   
  
_Damrod continued briskly. "You go back to camp; tell Captain Faramir there are spies lurking about. I shall call Howelin to me and we shall search out this thing, whatever it is."  
  
"'Tis probably one of those Southrons, curse them," the other commented bitterly. Saali wondered what a Southron was.  
  
"Just go. Now!" Damrod urged impatiently, then stuck two fingers in his mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Probably calling Howelin, whatever that was, Saali realized, which meant she had better get out of there, and fast.   
  
The Ranger who was not Damrod gave a little head-bow and began to stride off in what Saali assumed was the direction of the camp. _Now! Now! Now! _The spy hoisted herself onto her elbows and began to crawl frantically after him, being careful not to let herself land on any twigs or leaves that might catch Damrod's ear if snapped.   
  
She was acutely aware of every leaf in every tree, every crunch of every step Not-Damrod took as he retreated before her, and the fact that dirt was being ground deep into the elbows of her outer undershirt. Her black eye had begun to throb painfully.  
  
Footsteps to her right - Saali froze and rolled into a bush, cursing the rustle of the leaves as the twigs cut into her face. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. Another Ranger, running, looking quite harassed, passed right by her, bent on getting where he was going. Howelin.  
  
The spy waited until he was totally out of sight, then shoved the bush out of her face and rolled onto her stomach. Not-Damrod was only barely visible, a moving green-brown shadow amongst the trees. _Fate curse it, he CANNOT get away now!  
  
_It took all of Saali's will bent on silence to stay so as she crawled out of the bush, stood, and glanced around. Damrod and Howelin were nowhere in sight. Good. The young widow began to trot after Not-Damrod, stepping lightly among the roots and branches with tensed muscles. All around her, Saali thought she heard footsteps, following, and what could be lurking in those trees...  
  
_Slashslashhack. _Leaving her mark on the trees did wonders for her nerves. She knew the mothers of the world would have a few words to say if they saw her running with her unsheathed dagger.  
  
And with that thought, Saali loosened up entirely, nerves becoming replaced again by steely determination. She was measured and deliberate in her strides, she left a slash on every other tree, she kept Not-Damrod's back within her sight at all times, although it was harder now that he was running, too. _Coward. Probably thinking he has got the entire Haradic army on his tail... Well, he will soon. _Saali felt a superior smile stretch over her features.  
  
And then, suddenly, Not-Damrod disappeared behind a large boulder, and Saali followed him, and when she poked her head around the side of the boulder the Ranger's camp lay sprawled out in front of her. It was disorganized and shaky-looking as usual, but now that Saali had seen the tarks' prowess in the field, she knew better than to judge them on the conditions of their camp.  
  
Well. That was it. Her job was done. Saali swelled with pride and felt a grin come over her face. Let them say whatever they would about her; she knew they were wrong. She was good. And this time, she would not lose her trail.   
_  
  
_This time, the battle was swift. The Rangers were taken by surprise, and they retreated quickly, with almost no bloodshed, preferring to leave battle for another time rather than lose the amount of men they would have lost.   
  
The cheers of the Haradrim were fierce and triumphant, and the birds fluttered in small storms out of the trees like they shared in the excitement, when really they were just startled by the noise.   
  
Saali was floating on cushions of pride and victory, all doubts about her alliances and griefs of the past assuaged, for the moment at least. She had looked for purpose, and she had found it, and she had succeeded at it. Her life had affected the world.   
  
_Meaning is bliss.  
  
_As the sun set, the soldiers lit a celebratory fire, and there was singing and dancing, and no small amount of drinking. Saali, for the most part, refrained from the drinking, but she watched the dancers and clapped along with the singers, acting in stead of the drums that were not to be missed in any festival of Harad.   
  
A loud cough behind her alerted her to someone's presence, and she turned to see Panim and Brown-eyes standing awkwardly behind her. "Yes?" she demanded, instantly suspicious.  
  
"We just wished to make our gratitude... that is, we feel indebted..." Panim stumbled over his big words.  
  
"You did a good job," said Brown-eyes, and his voice startled her. "Thank you."  
  
Saali hadn't been expecting any congratulations; she had been just as happy being pleased with herself on her own, but now that they came, she felt even higher than before, if that was even possible. "You - you are welcome," she replied, still slightly in shock. _  
  
_"I am Nikat," Brown-eyes told her, and when she didn't answer in her satisfied daze, the two turned and left. Saali watched their retreating backs with wonder and sat down hard on a rock.   
  
"Drunk yet, princess?" Tai flopped down next to her, canteen of wine in hand.  
  
Saali laughed. For once, she didn't care if he called her "princess". "Not yet. And I do not intend to drink, either, although you seem to have drunk rather a lot," she chided him.  
  
"Ah, my spy princess. Must always stay sober and sharp so she can be the hero," Tai slurred happily.   
  
"I am not the hero." Saali feigned modesty quite agreeably.   
  
"To anyone who matters, you are," her friend gave her back, and as he did so, he leaned forward, and lost his balance in a way so that his mouth sort of managed to land on her cheek in a way that would have resembled a kiss, had Saali not known better...  
  
"Tai..." The spy gave him a long look.  
  
"I know. Should not have done that," Tai grinned sheepishly.   
  
"No. You should not." Saali's thoughts refused to stay in one place, and she was getting rather dizzy and frightened, in what might have been a good way.   
  
"But then again, I should not have talked to you, and you should not have come along with the army in the first place, and..." Tai shrugged. "There are many things that people should not do that turn out to be good in the end."  
  
"I suppose so." Saali's brow furrowed, and she watched the firelight dance on her friend's face. _Could it work?  
  
_"And," Tai added, "I needed a bit of drink to get this out of me, but I think I might be finding myself liking you a bit more than I would ordinarily like a fellow soldier, princess."   
  
Saali's world froze for a moment.   
  
Then she dropped her eyes to the ground. "You cannot," she said dully. " We cannot. It is against everything..."  
  
"I did not say we would have to tell anyone, did I?" Tai grinned that mischievous grin.  
  
And Saali grinned back, as she went the highest she'd ever been, right up to the clouds and the blazing sun that beat down on the streets of Harad, many miles south back home. How long had she loved that mischievous grin? "No, my friend, you did not."   
  
And at that moment, Reni sat down beside them and nodded, and if he'd heard anything or noticed their glowing faces, he said nothing.   
  
And the three friends, outcasts, misfits of the regiment, and utterly comfortable in each other's presence, sat together (two of them singing, one silent) until the flames of the fire were put out.

**LE FIN**


End file.
